Secrets and Lies
by lexie2
Summary: Secrets and lies have always been part of his life, and she has made a living out of exposing them. What happens when she discovers more than she s bargained for and when he learns everything he thought he knew was a lie? Expect the unexpected. CHLEX fic.
1. Rebirth

Summary: Secrets and lies have always been part of his life, and she has made a living out of exposing them. What happens when she discovers more than she´s bargained for and when he learns everything he though he knew was a lie? Sometimes a life-death decision can rise up questions and provide you with answers you aren´t prepared for.

Author: Lexie

Rating: PG-13/15

Spoilers: Everything up to Fracture is up for grabs.

A/N 1: I had already written the first half of this story when RL forced me to put it on hiatus last July. By the time I could get back to it, I had started beta-ing dagney´s "Dragon´s Lair", and I seriously considered putting this to freeze in case someone thought I had picked on Sherry´s brain- you see both fics start where Fracture left off. Then I thought it would be foolish not to finish it because I had written the Fracture-sort-of-inspired half of the story before dagney even started brain-storming hers and, what´s more, I had planned my story to go in a completely different direction, so I sat down and wrote the rest.

This first posting will be somewhat long for my usual standards. Why longer, you ask? I´ll be in the mountains for a fortnight and I won´t be able to update it until I get back home, so I thought I´d better give you some Chlex in today´s instalment. I don´t have a laptop to carry along, but I´ll do my best to stop by a cyber café to read your feedback.

Enough said. Let´s go straight to the story, now.

A/N 2: The sequence of events in this story may not necessarily follow the timeline of the show. I´ve manipulated certain events from the show- including their time frame– to suit my own creative purposes.

Disclaimer: all Superman and Smallville characters belong to DC Comics and Gough & Millar. No infringement's intended.

**SECRETS AND LIES**

**CHAPTER 1:** REBIRTH

It was drizzling steadily in the streets of Smallville- nothing like the heavy rain that had soaked him wet in Detroit when he went looking for Clark´s amnesiac cousin, but annoying just the same. On the distant horizon lightning illuminated the skies and the storm that looked benign in the misleadingly quiet rural town turned suddenly ominous- a raging thunderstorm hidden behind a calm exterior, a reflection of the young man´s soul.

A couple of hours ago he had come out of a deep coma, surprising the medical staff on duty at Smallville Medical Center. He had come round amidst a blinding light and, for a few confusing moments, he had thought he was there, where his tainted soul should have been denied instant access. It had looked and felt like Heaven, only he knew it couldn´t be true. If he had finally crossed to the other side, it wouldn´t have been Heaven, not after the path he had taken. Still... something had happened, something which had shaken his very core and brought out feelings and cravings his darker half wanted dead and buried.

Divested now of the hospital garb, which he had come to hate after spending three-quarters of his life in health care centres- either as a patient or as an unwilling visitor- Lex Luthor stood looking out of a window in a pair of perfectly-pressed black trousers and a half-buttoned blue dress shirt.

Almost two years before he had come out of a similar comatose state a new man- wiser, crueller and more determined than ever to secure the one thing he had craved all his life and been denied. He had taken the path his mother had warned him against, convinced there was no other choice to find happiness; if there´d ever be something akin to happiness in a Luthor´s life.

He had cheated. He had lied. He had manipulated and plotted to get what had been so cruelly taken away from him when Lillian had died, leaving him to the tender mercies of a father in whose eyes Lex´d never be enough. The poor rich boy wanted, needed, to be loved with such despair that it made his darker half sneer at Alexander. The innocent boy still survived in the deep recesses of the billionaire´s soul, despite his father´s and the world´s attempts to smother him once and for all. It seemed Lex himself had joined the enemy´s ranks of late, fighting tooth and nail to crush every vestige of the weak wide-eyed boy who had made it impossible for him to earn Lionel´s approval. Little Alexander had only brought pain and disillusion to Lex, and holding onto him had been an act of rebelliousness, a last attempt to save what had been doomed from its seed.

For months Lex had been able to silence the voice that kept intruding into his thoughts, telling himself he had listened to it long enough, only to be betrayed by those closest to him and to be doubted every step of the way because he had had the misfortune to have been born a Luthor and not a salt-of-the-earth mild-mannered boy like Clark Kent. It didn´t matter that the young farm boy made mistakes or hurt those around him with his secrecy, the world was ready to forgive Jonathan Kent´s adoptive son; Lex was certain everyone would embrace the boy if he were to reveal the secret he´d been hiding for years. However, Lionel Luthor´s son would never be given that chance. He had been branded at birth. He´d be forever evil in everyone´s eyes and, because of that, never entitled to have a secret or make a wrong decision. Unlike Clark, Lex had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth but had had to fight all his life to beg for everything that the farm boy took for granted.

Being in a coma had been an illuminating experience and coming out of it had brought to the surface old insecurities and stripped Lex´s soul bare. The mask he´d been wearing those past months, the armour he´d decided to put on ever since the Christmas he had refused to renounce his dream of a seat at the Senate was no longer in place. Something had happened while he was dormant and fighting for his life in that hospital bed, something that had made him see the light at the end of the tunnel- only it wasn´t the door to the afterlife but to another chance here on earth.

Lex had already lost count of how many times his life had been spared and of how many second chances he had been given by either God or Providence. Two of these chances were deeply imprinted on his mind for on both occasions he´d been saved from drowning by a Kent- Clark and Kara, two cousins who had come to plague the billionaire´s waking hours. The enigma behind his former friend had obsessed Lex for years on end and the arrival of the angelic blonde-haired cousin, who had rescued him from certain death, had revived and stoke that sickly fixation to unravel the mystery behind Clark Kent. It was because of Kara Kent and his obsession with the farm boy that Lex had got a bullet in his head. That his life had been spared for the umpteenth time was a miracle he couldn´t fathom; it made him wonder why God had decided once again that his life was worth-saving.

Looking out of the window of his hospital room Lex saw, reflected on the pane, the face of the one woman who had ever loved him in spite of whom he was. "Mum?" he asked with glassy eyes. "What...? Why are you.. .? I thought I´d never see you... again," he mumbled, his voice charged with emotion.

"Hush, Alex, " the ethereal figure cut him off. " You should have listened to me last time, but I´m not the one to cast the first stone, Alex. Everyone makes mistakes; it doesn´t mean you aren´t deserving. I wanted so much for you to have what I had in my grasp and let slip away. It´s said that parents always know better, but it isn´t always so. I should have been stronger... I should have never... I should have protected you and told him the truth before it was too late. Things would have been so different if I had... if he had, at least, known. But I was scared... "

"What are you talking about? What is it that dad should have known?" he frowned.

"You mustn´t let Lionel win, Alex. If you do, all this suffering and pain will have been for nothing. You can do it. You can beat him because my baby´s still here, " she murmured with a soft smile, touching his chest where his heart was. "My little, beloved Alexander´s still here. And he´s fighting to survive, and I just had to give him the chance before it was too late. "

"Was it you, then? " he asked with a puzzled frown.

"It was you, Lex, " she responded warmly. "You knew you´d made a mistake not listening to me that Christmas. I thought I´d lost you, too, " she told him, cupping his face with a delicate hand. "You called for help. "

"The light? Was it you, then? " he frowned.

"Stop trying to intellectualise everything, Lex. Just feel. "

"Feeling´s what brought me here, mum, " he said in anguish. " Feelings have brought me nothing but pain."

"Alex, " she turned his face towards her, "don´t do that. Don´t close yourself up again. If this is to work, you can´t fight it or, else, it´s the final goodbye for both of us. "

"But the light... I felt something... someone... if it wasn´t you, then ... who?" he said agitated.

"Don´t try to look for all the answers, Alex; don´t try to go down that dangerous path again. The answers´ll come to you when the time is right. You´ve shown her, Alex; she knows the reason now."

"What are you saying, mum? Who is she? Why are you talking in riddles?" asked Lex frustrated.

"Listen to your heart, " she soothed him, taking his hand in hers and placing them on his beating chest. "I wish I could tell you everything now, but ... it isn´t safe yet. "

"Safe for whom?"

"Things are already in motion. You´ve just got to trust me, Alex. I promise you this time it´ll be different. "

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because you´re not alone this time. You need to have faith, Alex. I know Lionel´s done his best to try to kill that in you, but you have to make a leap of faith. There´s a reason for your survival, and all the answers you´ve been waiting for so long will be given. I just hope you´ll find it in your heart to forgive me. I love you, Alex; you´ve always been loved, " she leant forward and pressed a kiss on his cheek.

"Mum?" choked Lex when he saw Lillian´s ghost vanish.

" Lex, son, " Lionel´s voice intruded on the scene, putting a hand on the young man´s shoulder. "Shouldn´t you be in bed? You´ve just come out of a coma. "

"And you wouldn´t happen to know anything about my recovery, would you? "said the patrician heir, turning around to meet Lionel´s eyes.

"I´m a Luthor, but even I am not that powerful, " came Lionel´s answer.

"Did you know that people in a coma can hear everything that´s said around them?" asked Lex tersely. "You wanted to play God with my life, dad, use one of LuthorCorp´s experimental projects I cancelled in view of its tragic results. Well, did you?"

"You´ve been through a traumatic experience, Lex. Whatever you think you heard was just your mind playing tricks, "responded the older man gravely.

" Oh, I know what I heard and, believe me, I´m not insane, " said the young billionaire, shaking his head. "But, you know what? It´s irrelevant now. I´ve been given another chance. This is my last opportunity to get away from under your shadow; and I´m not going to waste it trying to understand what´s going through your sick mind. I´m done playing your twisted games. I just want you to get out of my life. Besides, wasn´t you who said you no longer had a son?" responded Lex, his body coiled up in tension.

"Lex, " said reproachfully. "You´ll always be my son, no matter our differences. I know I should have told you this before... " he continued, grabbing Lex´s forearms and holding his gaze. " I lo... "

"Oh, spare me, dad! " exclaimed the young tycoon, shaking his father´s hands off. "You don´t know what love is. "

"I know I´ve failed you, son. I´ve misjudged you for many years. If I had known... "

"Don´t try to play that card on me. You could never stand to see me happy... "

"You know, Lex, if you weren´t so obsessed with the past and trying to find out answers for everything, you would appreciate what you have. Lex, Lex, why can´t you see everything I´ve ever done..."

"...was to show me how much you hate that I am alive while he is dead? " finished Lex, stretching an arm to grab his long winter overcoat.

"Are you trying to blame me for every morally-questionable decision you´ve taken in recent times?"

"Morally-questionable decisions? The pot calling the kettle black, " smiled Lex ironically.

"Are you blaming me for your current predicament, son? It wasn´t me who sent you to Detroit to chase that new obsession of yours. What´s her name? Kaila? Kiera? " frowned Lionel.

"Come on, dad, don´t play dumb. You know who she is. You´ve been spending more time on that farm than in your office at LuthorCorp, " chuckled Lex as he did up his Armani overcoat.

"And tell me, Lex, what is that you want with that farm girl?"

"I could ask you the very same question. A leopard never changes its spots. You´ve got something up your sleeve; I can tell. I still don´t understand how a boy raised by Jonathan Kent can so readily open you the doors of his house. I honestly hope he knows what he´s doing, " he responded putting on his designer tainted glasses.

"Clark Kent´s an extraordinary young man, " said Lionel, cocking an eyebrow.

"He certainly is, but he´s extremely naïve- something you and I have never been."

"Naïveté is a very refreshing character trait. Your mother had it in spades," Luthor Sr. replied with an ironical tone in his voice. "Have you talked with her lately, Lex? " he added, looking at his son´s back as Lex started to leave the room.

Lex clenched his fists deep in the pockets, wondering how long Lionel had been standing at the doorway before making his presence known. Lillian´s apparition had been too transcendental a moment to be soiled or dissected by the man who had made her life a living hell and who had done his worst to crush whatever redeeming quality Lillian had seen in her son.

"Goodbye, dad. Seek someone else´s life to destroy, " finished the young tycoon as he left the room without dignifying the elder man with an answer.

As he marched down the corridor Lex felt the pricking of tears behind his eyelids and fought against the impotence that overtook him. He hated the man, hated him but, at the same time, hopelessly wished to gain his approval and, in doing so, he had chosen the path which was leading him straight to the destiny he had sworn to avoid- becoming his father.

Lex clenched his fists and took a deep breath as he approached the exit of the small town´s hospital. `Don´t give up, Alexander. I´ll be there, remember?´ said a voice in his head. "Mum?" he whispered.

He´d thought he´d never see her again after he refused to accept what she had shown him two Christmases ago. This time, he told himself, he´d pay heed because, if she was right, the blinding light that had surrounded him and the warmth that had enveloped his heart when he was brought back to life were waiting to find him. Lex knew it´d be a hard struggle to curve his own inquisitive nature- his thirst to have all the answers. However, if being blind for a while was the price to pay to have, at least, a small taste of what he´d foolishly thought he could have with Lana, it´d be more than worth it.


	2. Awakening

**CHAPTER 2:** AWAKENING

THE APARTMENT ABOVE THE TALON

Eighteen hours had gone by since Clark intruded into Lex´s private room at Smallville Medical Center to find his former friend coming round amidst a blinding light. A hunch had driven the farm boy back to the hospital and his intuition had once again proven right. He loathed to think what would have happened if he hadn´t arrived in time. Lex would just have had to put two and two together to arrive at the correct conclusion. Had Clark hesitated to enter that room for a millisecond, the second best-kept secret in Smallville would have come to light.

Keeping Lois away from the apartment above The Talon, once he had located both her and his cousin Kara in that scrap yard back in Detroit, had been an extraordinary feat. And lying to Lana in the face about his current whereabouts had put another nail to the coffin of their already dying relationship. Who could understand the feminine mind? He was surrounded by them and still he´d never be able to figure them out- a Jezabel who had ensnared him in a quasi-adulterous relationship, an amnesiac cousin who eyed him as if he were the enemy, an obnoxious devil-may-care army brat and now... a sleeping beauty ready to sacrifice her life for... whom? For Kara and Lois? For him? Or... ? He daren´t think of the third alternative, not after everything that had passed between Chloe and his former best friend in the last four years.

It was close to two in the afternoon when Clark crossed the deserted cafeteria and climbed up the stairs with a glass of milk and a piece of blueberry pie. He had resisted the urge to super-speed downstairs all morning afraid of leaving Chloe alone even for a fraction of a second, but his stomach had started grumbling, demanding sustenance, and he was forced to relinquish his post by her bed.

At exactly two-oh-five the blonde reporter´s dormant body stirred suddenly back to life, and Clark walked into the apartment to find her sitting on the bed with a hammering heart and a disoriented look in her eyes.

"Chlo´? " asked a relieved farm boy, setting down his snack on the night-table.

"Clark?" responded Chloe with a raspy voice as she focused her blurry eyes on the blue and red-clad figure sitting on the bed.

"God, Chloe!" he exclaimed, tucking a few loose strands of blonde hair behind her ears. "What in heaven´s name did you do?" he added, wrapping his arms around her in a big hug.

"Easy, Clark. You´re going to crush my bones, " she laughed, swallowing the lump in her throat as reality came crashing down on her.

" I´m sorry, " he smiled sheepishly as he loosened the grip on her petite frame. "You scared me to death, Chlo´. Why... ?"

"Lois and Kara, are they...? " she cut him off, slipping away from his grasp and trying to get a grip now that she was back on solid ground.

"They´re out of harm´s way," he responded, eying her back with a concerned look on his face. "I found them in Detroit. You told me before slipping into a coma. "

"Right, " she whispered, making an effort to keep the tears in check as she started to process everything she´d seen and felt when her essence had left her body in that hospital room.

"Chloe, why did you do it?" he asked tensely, walking towards her as she busied herself with some dirty dishes Lois had no doubt left in the sink before rushing away to Motor City.

"Clark... it was the only way," she responded after taking a deep breath.

"You know that isn´t true. Lionel said... " he began only to be cut off by her.

"Come on, Clark! You know what would have happened if we had let him do what he suggested. Or didn´t you hear what Lana told us about that experimental procedure?" she answered, trying to control the emotions and images of an infant Alexander which kept popping into her mind.

"Chloe, you could have died, " he reproached her.

"You don´t know that. Last time I did OK, didn´t I? " she asked with the ghost of a smile.

"Last time you weren´t dead for eighteen hours."

"Well, it was worth it, wasn´t it? I got Kara and Lois´ location. "

"Yes, but... I don´t understand... after everything he´s done to you and... "

"Clark... I still don´t know why I´ve been chosen to have such an extraordinary gift; but it was my decision to make. He might be a jerk sometimes... OK... most of the times lately... but I simply couldn´t have someone´s death on my conscience knowing I could have done something about it. I wish I hadn´t been saddled with this ´power´. It´s amazing, but too big a responsibility to handle. We aren´t God, Clark."

"I know... It´s just that... when I saw him lying on that bed in hospital , I... " he stuttered, lowering his head in shame," I... shouldn´t have felt this, but... for a minute there, I thought he had got what he deserved. After everything he´s put Lana through... " he continued, shaking his head.

Chloe´s breathing hitched as the Princess´ name slipped through Clark´s lips. He had always been blinded by his love for the brunette, a fact which had been a constant source of sorrow and pain for Chloe during her high school years. She had envied and hated the prom queen in equal measure half of her life until that fateful summer when Chloe decided to bury the hatch after she realised her feelings for Clark had been nothing but a deep crush. In recent years, Chloe had seen things in Clark´s eternal flame which made her feel uncomfortable; however, she had decided to cut Lana some slack based on her own animosity towards Lex. Funny how things could change drastically over the course of a few hours.

"We only know half of the story, Clark," she responded, drying the dishes and stacking them on a shelf." What?" she frowned, noticing Clark´s puzzled look.

"What happened in that hospital room?" he asked gravely, making her turn to face him.

"I sneaked into the room, checked out nobody was watching, approached his bed, touched him and... you know the rest," she shrugged her shoulders, forcing her eyes to hold his questioning gaze without wavering.

"In order to get Lois and Kara´s location you had to do something other than just touch him."

"Look, Clark. I´m new to this. My educated guess is it must have taken you a while to master your powers... to be able to control them. I simply touched him, OK? I can´t tell you anything about the dynamics of it all. Gee! We saved my cousin and yours, isn´t that enough?" she snapped, feeling the pricking of tears behind her eyelids.

"Chloe, you can´t blame me for getting worried. After all, it´s Lex we´re talking about, and I´ve never seen you this agitated."

"That´s what eighteen hours dead does to you, Clark," she retorted ironically. "Don´t worry. Touching Lex hasn´t contaminated me. I´ll be as fit as a fiddle in no time."

"Chloe, I know you´re hiding something from me. Why did you just say we know half of the story?"

"There´s nothing unusual about my assertion. All of us know that there are two sides to any story. Don´t try to look for any hidden meaning in my words, Clark. Now, if you´ll excuse me, I´d like to have a shower and grab something to eat."

"OK, " said Clark resigned."We´ll let it rest for a while."

"No, Clark. We´ll let it rest for good," she told him tilting up her chin.

"Have you ever thought what would have happened if I hadn´t super-sped you out of that room when I did?"

"What matter´s that you did take me away, Clark. Why worry about the what-ifs?"

"And what´ll happen next time, Chloe? Have you ever stopped to think about that? Are you planning to use your power again?"

"I honestly don´t know, Clark. I´m just glad you were there when I needed you. Now, go," she shooed him away.

"I´ll tell Lois you´re opening this afternoon, if it´s all right with you. I don´t think I´ll be able to retain her for too long with the story I concocted," he smiled, looking at her cocked eyebrow. " Ant invasion?" he added with a twist of his lips.

"Right," she smiled back."Don´t worry about me, Clark; I don´t. I just want to get back to my life and forget the last couple of weeks... or months, whatever."

"You know you can talk to me, right?" he said warmly, grabbing her gently by the arms.

Chloe looked at her oldest friend with fondness and simply hugged him back. For years he had kept his secret locked away and, now, he was keeping hers too. However, she just didn´t feel ready to share everything with him when it came to her latest `supernatural` experience, particularly when the third party involved was Lex. There was no love lost between the two young men and Lana was a big portion of the trouble. Moreover, while fifteen-year-old Clark might have been ready to give Lex the benefit of the doubt, there was too much history between them, and the young adult he now was had been too much influenced by Jonathan Kent´s ways to change his opinion about Lionel Luthor´s first-born. Hell, if she hadn´t put aside all the resentment she felt for the way Lex had treated her in the last four years, she wouldn´t have tried her powers on him and she would still think very much like Clark.

`Well, Sullivan, get your butt in gear. Life goes on and feeling pity- or whatever it is you´re feeling for the bald billionaire right now- or even worse, doing something about it... will just make your life more complex than it already is,´ Chloe told herself as she opened her wardrobe and picked a change of clothes. `You have to put this behind you and go on as if nothing had happened,` she tried to convince herself. `Yeah, who are you kidding? Nothing´ll be the same.´


	3. Don t Leave Me

**CHAPTER 3:** DON´T LEAVE ME

LUTHOR MANSION

The moment the limo parked on the driveway of the mansion and the chauffeur stepped out to open the door for his employer, Lex experienced a sudden bout of dizziness and a pull on his chest as if something were fighting to get free. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on his breathing as he clenched his fists to control the pain that was ripping his insides.

"Goodbye, Alex, " murmured a feminine voice laced with concern before he opened his eyes in bewilderment and the frantic pumping of his heart started to slow down.

"Sir?" asked the chauffeur with a frown when he saw the lost look on his master´s face. "Sir?" he insisted.

Lex unclenched his fists and, swallowing the lump in his throat, pulled up his left cuff to check the time on his Napoleon-franc watch. Two-oh-five.

"Are you feeling all right, Mr Luthor? I can drive you back to the medical centre, sir" said the worried employee.

"I´m fine, Johnson. I´ve been through a lot this last twenty-four hours. I just need to rest; that´s all," responded Lex with the ghost of a smile as he started to get out of the limo." You can take the day off. I won´t be needing you, at least, until tomorrow."

"OK, sir. I´ll take the limo to the garage then," replied the chauffeur, shutting the door and making his way around the vehicle to the driver´s side.

Lex climbed up the front steps of the castle and walked through the polished mahogany door his British butler was keeping open for him.

"Good afternoon, sir. It´s good to see you back in one piece, " the dignified servant greeted him.

"Thanks, James. I´ll go up to my room to freshen up. Would you prepare a tray for me and take it to the study? I haven´t eaten lunch today."

"Hospital food wasn´t up to your standards, sir? " said the middle-aged man with twist of his lips.

"Mashed pumpkin and artificially-flavoured jello isn´t my idea of gourmet cooking, "replied Lex with a smirk.

"Of course not, sir. I´ll see what we can put together," came the butler´s response as Lex started to climb up the staircase to the first floor.

In the privacy of his bedroom Lex kicked off his shoes and, taking off his jacket, started to unbutton his dress shirt and unbuckle his belt. He had stripped down to his underwear when his reflection on the full-length mirror made him stop. Only a couple of already greenish bruises bore witness to what had happened the previous night. He touched his old scars with careful fingers- the long one on his flank from two Christmases ago and the one of the stabbing at Club Zero were the scars he spent more time retracing. They were reminders of two decisive moments in his life, moments which had changed the course of history... his own history.

Lex approached the mirror and leant forward to observe his forehead closely. He raised his left hand and gingerly touched the spot where the bullet had pierced the flesh, drilled the frontal bone and started its trajectory through his brain- only there was no physical trace of it, no proof of his fateful encounter in that Detroit scrap yard. A mere couple of bruises, which he knew for certain would have disappeared by the time he woke up the following morning, weren´t reminder enough of what had happened to him before coming out of the coma. He couldn´t remember the last eighteen hours, but any doubt he might have had about its all being a dream had vanished five minutes ago in the limo. He had heard `her´ voice, and a fleeting image of himself- twenty years younger, standing in the middle of a dark corridor- had taken him unawares. `Don´t leave me, ´ his childish voice had said. `Goodbye, Alex, ´ had responded a warm feminine voice charged with regret and something Lex couldn´t pinpoint.

Lillian had begged him to stop looking for answers and he knew it´d be a hard struggle when every bone in his body told him to look for clues in his mind, clues that could lead him to the truth and to that being of light who had pulled him out of the coma and healed his latest injuries.

He stepped under the shower and welcomed the feel of hot water running down his coiled-up muscles- he could use a relaxing massage to relieve the tension which had worsened the months prior to his wedding to Lana. He closed his eyes in an effort to chase away the pain of betrayal and disappointment that overwhelmed him every time he put his defences down. He tried out one of the breathing techniques he´d been taught while recovering from his hellish experience as a castaway; only this time his efforts to empty his mind backfired.

Lex planted both hands on the tiled wall in front of him to steady himself as an overload of disconnected and rapid-fire images popped into his mind- Julian dead in his crib; taking the blame for his baby brother´s death; Lionel manhandling Lillian; getting poisoned by his dad; Duncan´s accidental death; slapping Lana´s face the day she walked out on him and then... warmth and... laughter... his laughter and someone else´s... . He tried to remember what his mother´s laughter sounded like, but he was too stressed out. There hadn´t been much laughter in his life, and the only times he remembered smiling- truly smiling not just putting on a practised smirk- had been when Lionel was abroad on business and Lex spent the holidays with his mum on their ranch in Montana, and the times he had visited Chloe during her exile.

`Don´t leave me, ´echoed a childish voice in his head, and Lex opened his eyes again panting.

He took a minute to stabilise his breathing and then, turned off the tap before coming out of the stall to dry and change into a pair of black trousers and a light-blue dress shirt. As he finished buttoning up he looked at himself in the mirror above the washbasin. His complexion seemed paler than usual, and his eyes had lost that cold intensity he had got used to seeing every day in the looking-glass; there was something in their depths which hadn´t been there in a long time- `hope ´, a flickering light the world had done its best to crush.

`I´ll always be there. ´

THE TALON- 5.30 p.m.

The coffee shop had opened its doors half an hour before, in time for the regular influx of patrons that swarmed on Friday afternoons, when school was over for the week and Smallville´s teenagers hung out with their friends to make plans for Saturday evening. The house was packed, and Lois- who was earning a few extra bucks waiting on tables and controlling the till- had her hands full behind the counter as she filled orders, charged the customers and supervised the waitresses without aid.

"Hey, Darleen! "called out General Lane´s eldest daughter. "I need to step away for a few minutes. Could you take these two orders to the booths at the back?" she asked one of the waitresses.

"Sure, Miss Lane ," responded the twenty-something, grabbing the tray that Lois had left on the counter.

"Thanks. You´re a doll, " sighed the exhausted brunette." I want to check on my cuz, " She added, locking the till.

Chloe was cooped up in the apartment and hadn´t come down to drink her habitual jumbo cup of mocha with a piece of pecan and chocolate pie. It was not like her to remain immune to the enticing smell of caffeine wafting up from the coffee house, and Clark´s clumsy cloak-and-dagger routine had piqued Lois´ interest even more. Lois knew her younger cousin well enough to be able to tell when she was using her beaming smile to cover up what she was actually feeling.

"A frothy cup of java and a piece of this freshly-baked pie will do the trick," murmured Lois, replacing the cover to keep the pastry fresh. `Shoot! What´s cue ball doing here? He collects freaks at 33.1, but he sure is the weirdest of them all. How the heck did he survive that shooting? Oh, no, mister! You aren´t getting closer to Kara again if I have anything to say in the matter, rambled Lois to herself.´

Zor-El´s only daughter was sitting alone at a small table, sipping a tall glass of orange juice and listening to her favourite song on her MP3 player, when the patrician, bald man she had met at the coffee shop in Detroit materialised in front of her.

"Hey!" she smiled, removing the earphones and inviting him to sit down.

"I hope I´m not interrupting," he responded warmly.

"You are not. I was just trying to reacquaint with myself, if that makes any sense," she fidgeted, looking into his blue-grey eyes with the ghost of a smile.

"I know the feeling," he answered, holding her baby-blues and wondering if he was strong enough to resist the temptation to pursue his original plan." Any luck so far?"

"No," she shook her head." Lois and Clark seem nice people but... ."

"Look, I know I told you I´d help you... and I don´t intend to back down... but I believe the best way to..." he began, leaning forward.

"What are you doing here, Mr Luthor?" glared Lois.

"The last time I checked I was co-owner of this coffee shop, and your employer, Miss Lane. By the way, I´m glad to see you´re all right. It seems we´re both made of resilient stuff," he smirked.

"Yeah... well..." she fumed. "Can I have a word with you?"

"You might not have noticed it, but I was in the middle of a conversation when you made your presence known," he cocked an eyebrow." Why don´t you take that tray away before someone complains? I´ll be right up," he added, curving a smile when he saw the volatile brunette boil." Now, Miss Kent, where were we?"

"Kara," smiled the blonde teenager, stealing a glance at Chloe´s cousin.

Lois gripped the tray tighter and tried to control her temper, telling herself not only her roof but her position at The Planet were at stake if she dared alienate LuthorCorp´s CEO. She´d have to find the moment to talk to the amnesiac girl alone.

Shooting a murderous last glance at the coldly urbane billionaire, General Lane´s daughter made her way to the stairs which led to the apartment above.

"As I was saying... I believe the best thing for you to do now is to be around family and people who care about you."

"What about the treatment you suggested in Detroit?" she frowned.

"The mind´s a very complex mechanism that´s better left alone, Kara. I´ve been both a willing and an unwilling lab rat. I´m still missing several weeks of my life courtesy of my dad. Believe me, Kara, I know what´s like to want to remember only to come up against a brick wall," he responded gravely. "Desperation can lead to making decisions which you might come to regret later on."

"But you said the procedure was harmless," she insisted.

"Not even the best precautions can prevent something from going wrong and, if something were to happen to you during the procedure, I would never forgive myself," he responded passionately.

Kara eyed him with a puzzled look on her face and the billionaire took a deep breath before resuming his discourse.

"I know you don´t remember it, but you saved my life a few months ago and, for that, I´m eternally indebted to you. What´s more, it´s always been my policy to protect those who have been nice to me and- in your case- it was more than not giving me the cold shoulder. As you must have noticed, neither my kin nor I are well-regarded in this community. Friends are a luxury no amount of money can buy and the ones I had... well... let´s just say one of them died at a very young age and the other one... he gave up on me."

"Why?"

"I´m afraid it´s too complex an issue to discuss over a cup of coffee. Besides, I wouldn´t like to burden you with my problems, you already have your plate full as it is. I´ve got to take care of something now; I´ll leave you to your music."

"Lex?" she started to get up, stretching an arm to detain him.

"You´ll be OK, Kara. You couldn´t have a better family than the Kents. I wish I had been that lucky."

"I´m scared," she murmured.

"You can count on me if you need someone to talk to. You know where to find me, but I´ve got a feeling your cousin Clark´ll be much more adequate than me to help you sort out your identity," he replied, standing next to the table and squeezing her arm gently.

"Can I ask you a question?" she said in a low voice not to attract the patrons´ attention.

"Sure, if it´s in my power to answer it," he smirked.

"Yesterday... when you tried to rescue us... you were... I saw him pull the trigger... Lois and I saw you lying on the ground... with a bullet in the middle of your brow... How...?"

"I´m afraid that´s a question for God- if you happen to believe in him," he responded with the ghost of a smile.

"You haven´t got a scratch," she added, squinting and raising a hand to touch his forehead.

"When you have lived as long as I have in this town, you learn anything is possible... even the most bizarre," he acknowledged.

"But we weren´t in Smallville. And... I know what I saw..."

"I´m as baffled as you are, Kara, but I´ve learnt along the way that trying to get all the answers can lead you to very dangerous places- dark paths you swore you´d never tread. It became an obsession for me, and obsession is a double-edged weapon- it can prove to be the way to greatness when it pushes you to achieve things no one has ever dared dream of but it can also be your doom," he explained gravely.

"But aren´t you a tad curious about it? I mean you´ve survived a fatal injury. "

"Curious? Of course, I´m curious. And, believe me, there´s a part of me which wants to find out the truth about what happened in Detroit yesterday. I´ve searched for answers all my life, Kara, lived for the thrill of the quest until I became the man I´d sworn I´d never be," he told her passionately.

"It´s hard being you, isn´t it?" she said sympathetically.

"A man´s born into his life, but it´s up to him what he chooses to do with it. I´ve been misunderstood, misjudged and betrayed many times in my life by people I cared about, but there are lots of things I wish I had done differently. I´ve been given another chance and I intend to make the most of it. I know it must be frightening not knowing who you are, and where you come from, but listen to a pro: Take this amnesia of yours as a clean slate, an opportunity to start afresh."

"Why would I want to start afresh? I had a life before this happened to me," she whined." Do you know something you aren´t telling me?" she added, cocking an eyebrow.

"Talk to your cousin, Kara. I won´t interfere in Kent business again. I admired your uncle a lot but he was never able to see beyond my name, and Clark´s turned out to be a lot like Jonathan. Don´t get me wrong- he´s a nice kid, but he doesn´t think too much of me right now. I wouldn´t like to make matters worse for either you or me. Trust me, everything´ll be sorted out if you get him to be straight with you. Although we were close friends once, he never really trusted me. Still, you´re family and, somehow, I believe that´ll make the difference."

"You´re talking in riddles, Lex. I´m more confused now than when you crossed that door," she frowned.

"Clark Kent´s an enigma I´ve wanted to unravel ever since I set foot in this town. Don´t let the farm boy appearance fool you, Kara; he´s much more interesting than he seems."

"More than you are?" she smirked.

"I should be flattered, I guess. Don´t say that in front of your Clark, though, or I´ll have him barging in my study crying havoc," he smiled smugly. "It´s been nice seeing you again, Kara. Take care."

"You too, Lex. I hope you´ll find what you´re looking for," she responded warmly.

"So do I," he smiled back.


	4. Requests

**CHAPTER 4:** Requests

THE APARTMENT ABOVE THE TALON- 5.40 p.m.

Chloe was stretched out on the sofa- her body propped up against some colourful cushions she had bought at a hippie fair in Metropolis last summer- when Lois entered carrying a tray with two smoky cups of coffee and some pie.

The blonde reporter wrapped her body in the duvet she had grabbed off the bed and blew her nose with the last tissue left in the box. She wished Lois had knocked at the door before walking on a very private moment. Chloe berated herself for her stupidity- she should have locked the door to keep everyone away.

"Hi, Chlo´! I´ve brought you some coffee and a piece of your favourite pie," smiled Lois as she set the stuff down on the coffee table." You don´t look well. How are you?" she frowned, observing her cousin´s puffy nose and red-rimmed eyes.

"Don´t look at me that way, Lo´. It´s just a damn cold or something. I´ll be up and about tomorrow morning," she said, clearing her voice.

"You haven´t answered your phone since yesterday and, when I asked Clark about you, he darted glances all over the place and babbled some stupid answer," responded the elder cousin, watching Chloe take a few sips of her coffee with her eyes closed.

"Don´t blame him, Lo´. He was just doing what he thought was best. He knows what you´re like... Look at the way you´re fussing over me because of a stupid cold," exclaimed the snarky blonde, folding the screen of her laptop to prevent Lois from snooping into what she´d been researching.

"Don´t lie to me, Chloe. I can smell something rotten here. Come on, cuz, spit it out. I really don´t feel like beating around the bush. I´ve already had cue ball dismiss me like a stupid kid," she glared, pacing up and down the room.

"Lex?" gulped Chloe, scalding her throat with the hot coffee.

"Yes, Lazarus. He´s a f*cking freak, that´s what he is and a constant pain in the butt. If he weren´t the owner of The Planet, he´d have to hear me out," she fumed not noticing the sudden pallor on Chloe´s face. "I´ve never understood it. How come he´s allowed you to stay here after everything you´ve written against him and everything he´s done to you and your mum? And... you´ve never said anything about moving out. It´s been more than a year, Chlo´" replied the brunette, sitting down on the sofa.

"Getting an apartment in Metropolis- one I could afford with a rookie´s salary- isn´t that easy, Lois. Besides... Lex isn´t the only owner of The Talon," said Chloe, pinching the fork in the pecan pie.

"Yeah, right. Let´s not forget Clark´s fairytale princess," said Lois snidely. "By the way, have you noticed anything amiss between those two lately? This morning you could cut the air with a knife around them," she prodded on while Chloe zoned out.

Why had Lex allowed her to move in and make her home in that apartment after Black Thursday? Well, she´d had several theories- none of which had prepared her for the answer she got while being in Lex´s mind; it was a response which changed everything. As to the reason for her accepting Lana´s offer to live above The Talon knowing Lex was co-owner of the property, Chloe´d never dared stop to analyse it. Although she´d never been afraid to dig up the truth and face the consequences, this was one truth her rational half found hard to handle. That summer, four years ago, she thought there could be no greater pain than having her best friend and secret crush choose Lana over her time and time again. How naïve she´d been! She hadn´t been prepared for what was to come next.

"Chlo´, are you listening to me?" Lois interrupted the blonde´s musings when she realised her cousin was staring at the door of the apartment. "Chlo´? " she insisted, stretching an arm to brush a few strands of fair hair off Chloe´s face. "Sweetie, what´s wrong?"

Lex reached the first floor determined to face the person whose enmity he had cemented four years ago when fate had shown its ugliest face and he had been forced to hurt them both. It hadn´t been an easy decision but he had been left no option. No, at that moment, he cursed Lionel Luthor and thanked God for having spared him any additional guilt.

He walked purposefully to the door of the apartment, which had once been inhabited by the woman he´d thought could fill the void Chloe had left, give him what he´d never be able to have with Clark´s best friend. He raised his left hand and, after a split-second hesitation, knocked on the door.

"Damn! " exclaimed Lois through clenched teeth." I forgot cue ball said he´d be up in a few minutes. I can´t pretend I´m not here, Chlo´, he´s seen me climbing up with the tray. If you´d rather..." she continued in a concerned voice.

"It´s OK, Lo´. The sooner we hear what he´s got to say the sooner he´ll be on his way," Chloe cut her off with a small smile and an assumed calmness she was far from feeling.

"Mr Luthor, " responded a collected Chloe, standing up from the sofa not to give him the advantage of speaking to her from a vantage point.

"Are you OK?" he asked, noticing the ashen paleness of her freckled complexion.

"I´m fine, thanks. I´ve caught a twenty-four-hour bug or something. To what do we owe the honour of your visit?" she told him, making an effort to hold the look of his intense blue-grey eyes, which she knew were almost all-seeing.

"Well, I´ll make it brief," he replied, slipping his left hand inside the overcoat and taking out some folded legal papers which he handed over to Chloe.

"What´s this?" frowned the blonde reporter, grabbing them with a frown.

"Eviction papers, Luthor?"snapped Lois, rushing to her cousin´s side to take a peek at the documents.

"On the contrary, Miss Lane. It´s a deed of property in your name, Chloe. I´m transferring the ownership of the building to you and..." he added, extracting an envelope, "I´m also giving you my share in this business."

"What are you trying to do, Luthor? Buy her off?" hissed Lois.

"Lo´," Chloe cut her off with a pleading look in her eyes," let me handle this. Could you... could you give us a few moments alone, please?"

"But Chloe, don´t you see...?" the brunette pressed on.

"Lois, I don´t need you or anyone to speak for me. I appreciate your intention, but if you´ll excuse us, I want to have a word with Lex alone, " Chloe said to Lois, gently pushing her out of the room.

"All right, cuz. We´ll talk after closing time," she complied, shooting a warning glance at Lex, who responded with a cocked eyebrow and a smug smile."Mr Luthor," she bid him goodbye coldly.

"Miss Lane," he answered smoothly," I´m looking forward to reading that article you´ve been working on. Grant had faith in your reporter skills and I hope you´ll prove him right. I must say I was somewhat sceptical when he sang his praises judging by what I had seen thus far. Still, Chloe´s one of the most promising journalists in the business and her blood runs through your veins... I´m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."

`One of the most promising, eh? Is that why you fired her?´ Those were the lines Lois would have liked to utter, but she knew they might cost her her own job at The Planet so instead she toned them a little bit down. " If this an attempt to win me over, Luthor... " she replied with the hand on the doorknob.

"Lo´, " Chloe interrupted her with a shake of her head to show her it was high time she held her tongue.

"OK, the`muffin peddler´ is on her way out," sighed Chloe´s cousin, hearing Lex´s chuckle as the apartment door was shut firmly behind her.

The minute General Lane´s eldest daughter had stepped out of the flat Lex felt the atmosphere suddenly change. He looked at Chloe´s back and let his eyes roam over her until they reached her shoulders and her soft nape; she was visibly tense and he was aware he was the one to blame. Still, something felt different somehow as if the wall they had both erected between the two had started to crack.

"Chloe?" he said quietly when he couldn´t stand the silence any longer.

The young woman felt him get closer as she stood by the window with her back to him, trying to control her throbbing heart and the overwhelming urge to cry. No, everything wasn´t all right, and she feared what he might ask- she, who had never let anything stand in her way to get to the truth, now couldn´t handle everything that had been revealed to her when her essence had transferred itself to the man she´d learnt to hate in recent years. Although she had got many answers, she had also been bombarded with questions that haunted her- questions she wanted replied but, at the same time, feared to ask.

"Why?" she whispered, blinking her eyes to chase away a couple of treacherous tears."Why are you doing this now, Lex?" she added with a firmer voice.

"It´s my imperfect way to say `I´m sorry´. I know that a lifetime might not be enough to compensate you for what I´ve put you through, Chloe. I thought this could be a first step... giving you something you´re attached to," he responded, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"Then Lois was right. This is a bribe," she said, finally finding the courage to turn around and face him.

"It could be interpreted as such. I´d like to see it as an olive branch. Coffee´s always been the safest way to your heart," he smiled faintly.

"The Lex Luthor we all know would have offered me something more valuable to me."

"Your old job at The Planet? I thought of it but then, I turned down the idea; you would have thrown my Luthor grand gesture in the face. For all your independence you´re still a traditional girl- you wouldn´t have taken back the job if it had entailed being regarded as the boss´ whore by your co-workers."

_- ... I´ve always known, Lillian. Did you think you could hide something this big from me for ever?_

_- What are you going to do now, Lionel?_

_- Do? Oh, I know exactly what I´m going to do!_

_- I want a divorce._

_- Do you think I´ll let you walk away from me, Lillian?_

_- I don´t love you._

_- But you love your son, and you´d do anything to protect him, right?_

_- What do you want from me?_

_- You know what I want, Lillian. We´ve discussed it a lot lately._

_- I can´t. I won´t._

_- You will or Lex will know what kind of a mother he has._

_- If I do this... will you promise to leave him alone?_

_- For now..._

_-Bastard! He´s an innocent child. What has he done to you?_

_- Wrong question, my dear. You know what the problem is and there´s only one way to fix it._

_- Let me go, Lionel. Let us both go. I don´t want a divorce settlement. Just give me my freedom and you won´t have to see either of us again. You´ll be single again; free to take a new wife._

_- And what will you do? Run to him? I´m afraid it´s too late for that. What? Surprised? Oh, I know who he is._

"Chloe? Chloe?" Lex called her insistently, shaking her gently.

"What? " she answered weakly, coming out of her trance and trying to focus her eyes on Lex.

"Are you sure you´re all right? You seemed to be miles away from here, " he frowned, seeing the racing pulse on her neck and feeling his own heart starting to hammer as he grudgingly removed his hands from her shoulders.

"I´m fine," she told him, taking a couple of steps away from him." What do you want from me, Lex?"

"A second chance," he told her gravely, boring his blue-grey eyes into her.

"A lot of water has run under the bridge. You can´t buy someone´s forgiveness, Lex," she responded, biting her lower lip. It was turning out to be really hard to maintain the coldness which had characterised their relationship in the past four years, but she told herself she couldn´t give in so easily or he might start to suspect. Although Chloe knew he wanted to earn her trust, Lex would expect for it not to come easy. "I can´t accept this," she added, giving him back the deed and the legal papers transferring her the shares.

"Chloe," he began with a flash of hurt in his eyes.

"I really don´t know why you´ve allowed me to stay here for so long. Hell, I can´t even explain to myself why I haven´t moved out yet."

"We were... maybe not friends... but partners once, Chloe. After what happened on Black Thursday I felt responsible. It was the least I could do."

"Are you sure that was the reason? You had another chance to do things right after the Zod debacle and you blew it- you got even more driven and obsessed. I´ve been burnt too many times by the Luthors to believe so readily in miraculous transformations."

"I´m not my father," Lex told her gravely.

"Well... you could have fooled me these last years, Lex. There was a time I saw something in you that gave me hope- that told me you were different from him, but you did everything in your power to crush that glimmer of hope."

"I made countless mistakes in my past. I won´t beg, Chloe. I´ve knelt down and crawled too many times in my life. I just wanted to do something for you, considering how much I´ve hurt you and those close to you. I know it won´t be easy to believe this time will be any different, but I´m planning to make the most of the opportunity I´ve been given. I´d like for you to be part of my life... Clark´s a very lucky guy to have you as his friend and I wish I could call you `my´ friend sometime too. However, if that isn´t in the cards... "

" You said you wanted to do something for me," she cut him off, crossing her arms in front of her. She was going to ask him for it; there had been a moment a year ago when she had almost done it, when she´d even considered offering herself in whatever capacity he wanted her- as a guinea pig, as a minion or as someone to warm his bed.

"Name it."

"If you say `yes´, you won´t erase the past but I´d be willing to give you the benefit of the doubt... My mum... I want to talk to her again."

"You´re asking the wrong billionaire, Chloe. We both know you and Clark asked Oliver to find her treatment."

"Her state hasn´t changed. LuthorCorp´s the only corporation which has the technology to help her, Lex."

"I´m dismantling 33.1, Chloe."

"But you still got the serum, right?"

"There´s no proof the cure´ll last for ever and the long-term side-effects aren´t known. You´ve seen what refined meteor rock can do to a person..."

"You didn´t have so many qualms when you submitted her to the treatment last year," she spat at him through clenched teeth.

"I can provide you with the drug, Chloe, if that´s what you want, but..."

"I need to talk with her once more, Lex," she cut him off." Or is there something she knows you don´t want her to share with me?"

"I´m just concerned about you. If the drug doesn´t work indefinitely, are you ready to lose her all over again?" he responded, clenching his fists deep in his pocket.

"Send the serum to Queen, Lex, and don´t worry about me. I´ll deal with the consequences myself."

"All right. Suit yourself," he shrugged resignedly.

Lex would give her more than just the serum; he owed it to her. `Today´s another day,´ he told himself; deciding it was high time he started getting rid of assets he´d acquired with the idea of controlling and manipulating those who were meddling in LuthorCorp business.

Chloe thought she might be closer to getting some answers. The question now was, would she be ready to accept them?


	5. Unexpected

**A/N:** Thanks for awaiting so patiently. I´m back from my holidays so you´ll get regular updates now.

As I said at the very beginning I´ve manipulated and/or changed certain events from the show to suit my own purposes- including two storylines I wasn´t particularly pleased with:the fake pregnancy and the cloning of Grant.

**CHAPTER 5:** Unexpected

_TWO MONTHS LATER- LEX´S MASTER BEDROOM_

It was four o´clock in the morning and Lex was soaked in sweat, tossing and turning in his king-sized four-poster bed, the fine Egyptian cotton sheets twisted around his legs.

_`Why, dad? ´ he asked with glassy eyes. `Why do you hate me so much? What have I done to you that you just can´t let me be happy for once in my life?´_

_`You should ask your mother.´_

_`Well, it´s too late for that now, isn´t it? You´ve never forgiven me for what happened to Julian, even though I told you it wasn´t me. He was the son you always wanted- that´s why you kept his umbilical cord stashed away in one of your secret labs all these years. You played God with all of our lives. You forced Lana to marry me using Clark as a pawn, changed her vitamin complex for hormones, and bribed a doctor to make us believe we were expecting a baby. I got to give it to you, dad, it worked beautifully. Lana thinks I´m a monster now. Everyone´s blaming me for all the atrocities you´ve committed, including cloning your own dead son. You even sold me he had never been dead in the first place and then... when you were sure I´d grown to love him like the little brother I´d lost all those years ago... you had him killed. If I hadn´t had a mugger bump into you on your way to the restaurant that fateful evening, I wouldn´t have had your mobile to read those compromising words: "Job done." You´ve always seemed to enjoy humiliating me and taking away from my side everyone that´s ever meant something to me. ´_

_`I couldn´t take my revenge on your mother- I loved her too much to do that. However, she had betrayed me- in the worst way possible. I would have never laid a finger on her and that left you...´he cut himself off, `the apple of her eyes.´_

_`Betrayed you in what way?´_

_`That doesn´t matter now. Lex, son...´_

_`Who can be so base and unnatural as to torture his own flesh and blood?´ hissed Lex._

_`I know it´s too late to undo the past but... Lex, do you remember that little chat we had... when you came to visit me in prison before the trial? There´s something I´ve got to tell you.´_

_`What? You´ve cried wolf too many times, dad.´_

_`You don´t understand. I haven´t got much time left.´_

_`Is this another cheap trick, dad?´_

_`No, it´s the truth. You can talk with Dr Nelson, son.´_

_`And what will he tell me? The lies you paid him to feed me?´_

_`No, Lex... You´ve got to listen to me. Miss Sullivan... she is...´_

"Shut up!" screamed Lex, sitting up in bed, hyperventilating and soaking wet.

It had taken him several months to gather all the information and medical reports necessary to confront his father and, now that it was done, he only wished it were a nightmare. The man hadn´t denied anything- what´s more he had kept on pushing Lex´s buttons, telling him he had lied that time in prison. The old man had twisted the knife in the wound again by referring to a past conversation that was imprinted on Lex´s mind. He wished the bastard had lied three years ago, but Lex had incontestable scientific evidence that said he hadn´t.

Lionel had kept on trying to get Lex to listen to him and, then, the argument came to a sudden close on the top floor of LuthorCorp headquarters.

Leaving the bed to splash his face with cold water, Lex tried to stop thinking about what life had been like when Lionel was alive. He couldn´t let the bastard win even after death. The police inquiry concluded Luthor Sr had been robbed and attacked by some unknown assailant- the criminal had also incapacitated Luthor Jr, who happened to be in his father´s office at that time, and used the keys he had taken from Luthor Sr to operate the private elevator, fleeing with his loot. According to Luthor Jr, several objets d´art were missing, but there was no recorded tape of the robbery and murder since his father didn´t like cameras and microphones where he conducted business.

_THE DAILY PLANET BULLPEN_

It was two o´clock of an April afternoon when Chloe Sullivan came back from lunch and walked through the glass doors of The Daily Planet bullpen to find the editorial staff silently glued to the plasma screens.

The blonde reporter approached her desk, dumped her folders and notebooks filled with documents and scribbled notes for her following investigative report and, then, made her way to the centre of the room to have a better look at one of the monitors.

A photograph of Lex Luthor dressed in an obscenely expensive Italian custom-made suit was pasted on the screen as a voice in off gave a detailed account of his family, educational and business background. Chloe looked at her colleagues with a frown and wondered what the deal was. Unless some gutsy journalist had dug up some really juicy stuff on LuthorCorp and managed to circumvent the billionaire´s legal and not-so-legal fence to go public, she couldn´t understand the deadly quiet which had seized the room.

Suddenly, the picture came off the screen and was replaced by footage of a younger Lex accompanied by Chloe as they climbed down the stairs of Metropolis Court after the verdict on Lionel´s case was reached. She made an effort to keep her cool as she sensed several pairs of eyes focusing on her. `What the hell! I´ve got better things to do than going down memory lane on national television, ´she told herself.

And, then, when she was seriously considering Lex had developed a new power after his resurrection- the power to hypnotise the masses and keep them glued to the screen- the bomb came down: Lionel Luthor had been murdered in his office of three shots in his chest. The almighty Lionel Luthor couldn´t have died in normal circumstances. Chloe had always envisioned a somewhat bloody and over-the-top death for him- an orgasmic demise coming second on the list of possible alternatives.

So now Lex wasn´t just a billionaire in his own right, but would become the richest and most powerful man in America when he came into his father´s fortune- Chloe´s gut clenched, wondering how this would affect his latest efforts to walk the line.

"Sullivan!" came the thunderous call from Miss Kahn´s office, and the blonde reporter rolled her eyes.

"Here we go," she said through clenched teeth as she marched to the editor´s office, trying not to do so by dragging her feet.

"Where have you been? Haven´t you heard the news?"

"I´ve just... "

"Seen it on TV? How come we didn´t know of Luthor´s passing until it was pasted on every TV screen of Metropolis?"

"I´ve just come from my lunch break, " started to explain Chloe.

"And is that an excuse for journalistic sloppiness? Where´s the determined reporter I rehired two months ago?"

"Excuse me, Miss Kahn, " said an apologetic Jimmy Olsen, knocking on the door and opening it just a crack.

"What!" exclaimed an irate editor.

"There´s an urgent delivery for Miss Sullivan," he said sheepishly.

"Don´t you see we´re in the middle of a meeting here, Olsen?"

"Yes, madam, but I think..." he stammered, handing Chloe an envelope, "this is something she´ll like to see right away."

"Unless it´s something that´ll provide The Planet with an exclusive the competition would be dying to snatch from our hands, I suggest you conduct your private affairs in your own time, Miss Sullivan," hissed the temperamental editor on seeing Chloe fidget with the envelope in her hands. "Now, get yourself moving and bring me something worthy of the front page. You´re covering Luthor´s story, Sullivan. Take Olsen with you. See if he can snap a few decent pictures this time," she barked, sitting back on her swivel chair and picking up the handset of her phone." Well?" she looked at both youths, cocking an eyebrow," what are you waiting for? "

"One of these days I swear to God I´ll throttle her," said Chloe under her breath and heard Jimmy stifle a laugh as he followed her down the corridor. "I´ll text you with the instructions of when and where we´ll be meeting, Jimmy. I need a change of clothes."

"Sure, Chloe. Aren´t you going to open it? " he added pointing at the envelope she still had in her hand.

"Right now I need a shower and a jumbo cup of strong coffee, Jimmy," she sighed, locking away her research in the bottom drawer of her desk and picking up her handbag.

_CHLOE´S FLAT_

Chloe shut the door of her Metropolis flat and- leaving her keys and handbag on the console table in the hall- took off her jacket, walked into the kitchen to turn on the coffee maker and started to strip on the way to her room. She threw the envelope on the dresser, put on her favourite green satin robe- a Victoria Secret gift from her cousin Lois- and went into the bathroom. She had a relaxing shower and then cleaned her face of make-up and applied a moisturising cream.

It was half past three when she sat down on the sofa with a cup of frothy black coffee and the mysterious envelope with the purple and black logo of LuthorCorp on her lap. After spending an extra ten minutes looking at it against the light of the lamp on the end table and deciding it wasn´t an explosive letter, she stretched her arm, took the gold-plated paper knife her dad had given her when she was rehired by The Planet and slit open the envelope.

The letter was handwritten on monogrammed paper and bore the signature of the late Lionel Luthor. Chloe took a large gulp of coffee and started to read its contents with a puzzled frown on her face.

"Bastard," murmured Chloe with tears in her eyes.

_METROPOLIS CATHEDRAL_

It was a memorial service worthy of a king. Metropolis Cathedral was packed with throngs of business tycoons, foreign dignitaries and the crème de la crème of society- an over-the-top ceremony as it befitted a Luthor, but phony as hell.

Chloe sat on one of the pews at the back and surveyed the temple and attendance with a cynical eye. She spotted Senator Martha Kent sitting close to the atrium and thought Clark´s mum was perhaps the only soul in that place who was sincerely mourning the passing of Luthor Sr.

Lex and his half-brother Lucas were at the front receiving the condolences of the hundreds in attendance. The eldest sibling was wearing his trademark poker-face and the bastard son was flaunting that nonchalance he had shown on his brief visit to Smallville. Chloe bet neither of them really regretted the patriarch´s demise- the former because he had known him too well and the latter because he had been spared the acquaintance. Still, with Lex one could never be sure- his damnation had always been he felt too much and too deep. Who could say for certain what was going through his mind as he shook the a hundred and fiftieth hand of the evening.

" Miss Sullivan?" asked a grey-haired bespectacled man, taking her by surprise.

"Yes?" she responded, eying him with a questioning look.

"My name´s James Sutton. I´m the late Mr Luthor´s attorney," he explained, handing her a card.

"Will I need a lawyer?" she asked smugly." I haven´t been researching for a Lionel Luthor exposé of late."

"I´m not that kind of a lawyer, Miss. I handle estates, mainly."

"Estates? "

"Yes."

"Well, I´m afraid I haven´t got much to bequeath," she quipped, flashing him a Sullivan smile.

"Mr Luthor left precise instructions for the reading of his will and your presence is requested."

"Excuse me?" she frowned.

"The reading will take place in his offices at LuthorCorp Plaza at seven the morning after tomorrow."

"Isn´t the reading supposed to be a private family affair?" she asked, casting a glance at Lex, who at that moment raised his eyes and shot her and the lawyer a fleeting quizzical look.

"I´m just following my client´s instructions, miss."

Chloe wondered what other bomb the bastard would make explode after his death.

"At seven you said?"

"Yes, miss. At LuthorCorp Plaza."

"I´ll be there," she responded, and the dignified man said goodbye to her.

"Who was that guy, Chloe?" asked Jimmy, slipping next to her on the pew.

"Luthor´s lawyer," she said, trying not to fidget on the seat under Lex´s smouldering look.

"Lex´s?" he asked with a hint of panic in his voice." Is he suing the paper?"

"No, on both counts, Jimmy. It was Lionel´s lawyer. Come on, let´s go. We´ve seen enough," she answered tensely, picking up her bag.

"Did you manage to get something juicy from him?" he asked enthusiastically.

"This is hardly the place to divulge corporative secrets, Jimmy," she said scornfully.

"But... he said something to you. You looked confused for a moment there."

"Did you spend the whole evening keeping tabs on me? What about Miss Kahn´s assignment?"

"I´ve got the pictures. Don´t worry, Chloe. You´re touchy. What´s wrong with you?"

"Well, the Luthors aren´t my favourite people, Jimmy. Every time I´ve crossed paths with them, things have invariably turned awry for me," she explained, rushing to her parked Beetle.

"Hey, Chloe. What´s the hurry?" he exclaimed.

"You´ve got to develop the photos, and I´ve got an article to write before the deadline."

"I´ve brought the digital camera, remember?" he smiled." I won´t be needing a dark room, just a PC."

"OK, whatever," she said, fumbling with the car keys." It´s open, Jimmy. Will you get in, please?" she beseeched him, looking at the church and hoping Lex had been detained by an Arab sheik or a European MP on his way to the front doors. She knew she´d have to face him sooner or later, but she preferred for it to be later than sooner.

"Are you sure everything´s all right, Chloe?" asked Jimmy with concern.

"Say... is your offer to put me up in your apartment still standing?" she replied, pulling the car out of the parking space and looking into the rear mirror to see if she could spot a familiar bald head.

"Sure. Have you got problems with the plumbing again?"

The plumbing! God, she wished it were that simple!

"It´ll be for a couple of days, tops."

"Stay as long as you need, Chlo´. "

"Thanks, Jimmy."

She knew it wasn´t the perfect hideaway, but the two places Lex would look for her first would be her flat and then Lois´. She hoped that look on his face didn´t mean what she thought it meant. Although Lex had been really trying to convince the world and her that he was a different man after the incident in Detroit, Chloe knew he was on a short fuse. The last time they had talked, when he came to The Planet after he had sold the newspaper and Chloe had been re-hired, she had seen something in him which convinced her it´d just take a small push to send him over the edge.

Chloe wasn´t afraid of taking risks when it came to investigating for a front-page story, but what Lex had shown her when her essence had been transferred to his body in that hospital room had caught her in his emotionally-thwarted web and made her realise their lives were more entangled than she´d ever thought. That day, after he left her apartment above The Talon, she had started digging up information about the past and ended up investigating Luthor Sr once again. What she´d discovered told her robbery might not have been the reason behind the old man´s death. Had Lionel pushed him over the edge?

She´d type the article on her laptop, send Jimmy´s photos as an attachment and call in sick. She´d have forty-eight hours to use the key Lionel had enclosed in the envelope and get ready for an encounter she was starting to dread.


	6. From the Grave

**CHAPTER 6:** From the Grave

Two days had gone by since his father´s funeral and Lex couldn´t begin to process his death yet. He had always thought that Lionel´s passing would bring relief to his tortured soul, but he had been wrong. The rational part of him wanted to scream `Good riddance!´, but the little hurt boy in him couldn´t help but cry bitter tears.

Fifty-six hours ago Lex had informed LuthorCorp security of his father´s sudden death. He had felt an overwhelming rage at the assailant´s daring to deprive him of the privilege of ever pulling the trigger and carrying out what he had dreamt of doing himself for years. He wanted to scream, cry his eyes out, but the only sound that left his throat was a silent howl and the only dampness in his eyes was that of the tears that filled them and refused to fall.

He was virtually alone now- Chloe was avoiding him, and he was left with no one to hate. There was Clark, of course, the ghost that had stood in the way of his ever achieving happiness with Lana. He wished he could hate the farm boy for robbing him of the chance to know what it felt like to be loved again. He tried in vain to hate Clark for having secured so effortlessly the one thing for which he himself had to beg- human affection. However, what actually hurt the most wasn´t the attraction Clark had exerted on Lex´s own wife but rather, how Lana had betrayed them both. Not only had she left Clark for his best friend, she had cheated on Lex from day one- if not in deed at least in thought. The billionaire couldn´t help but resent her just as he resented Lionel for both had denied him the opportunity to have what his former best friend had always enjoyed – love and unconditional friendship.

Lex killed off the engine of his Porsche in the underground garage of LuthorCorp, took a deep breath, ungripped the steering wheel and looked at his hands. They didn´t shake, despite the vintage bottle of bourbon he had downed in the wee small hours of the morning. He got out of the car, locked it and stepped into the private elevator that would take him to the top floor, where his late father´s office was. Although the ride to the ninetieth floor was smooth, Lex´s head was pounding and threatening to explode.

The lift dinged on the top floor of LuthorCorp Plaza, and Lex stepped out into the carpeted corridor to spot the petite and curvy blonde conversing with his half-brother. At that moment, Lex knew without a shadow of a doubt that even though he didn´t hate Clark, he most certainly envied him. The young Kent still had the faithful friendship of a young woman who had also been part of Lex´s life and whose closeness he had had to sacrifice.

The billionaire hadn´t had time to miss Chloe Sullivan while lost in his dreams of happiness with Lana, but now that the veil had been finally lifted, the reality of such a loss was felt with a vengeance. Two months ago he had taken the first steps to start rebuilding everything he had been forced to destroy after the trial. He had provided Queen Enterprises with the serum to help Moira and sold The Planet so that Chloe could have her dream job back without any suspicion of nepotism. However, she had kept her distance and been avoiding him since then.

"Hey, bro´!" exclaimed Lucas smugly. "She´s grown up since I last saw her, hasn´t she?" he added, checking Chloe out with a tinge of lust in his eyes.

"Miss Sullivan," Lex greeted her, showing no surprise in his voice- he´d expected her to be there that morning.

"Mr Luthor," answered Chloe gravely, wondering what he thought of her presence at the reading.

"My God, has anybody got a knife to cut the coolness in the air?" laughed Lucas, feigning a shiver. "Weren´t you supposed to be friends of a friend or something?"

"A lot has happened in Smallville while you were away losing money at the poker tables, Lucas," said Chloe tersely.

"Who´s been spreading slanders about my lifestyle? You, Lex?" he cocked an eyebrow." Afraid of the competition, bro´? "

"We aren´t in the same league- not even close," answered Lex coolly.

"Oh, please! Are you listening to you?" exclaimed Chloe scornfully, looking at both brothers with a frown.

"My brother loves making other people uncomfortable with that stance of superiority, but not so deep down he´s a shaky little kid crying out for his mummy," shook Lucas.

Chloe could feel the tension boiling up in Lex and reaching her in waves. She had known the meeting would be far from comfortable, but being caught in a Luthor family feud was something she certainly hadn´t signed in for. In spite of his having grown up away from the Luthor household, Lucas was aware of which buttons to push to make Lex snap. Chloe thought he was either reckless or downright stupid for the eldest brother was a sleeping tiger no sensible person would dare rouse.

She looked at Lucas and couldn´t agree more with Lex- they were in completely different leagues. The youngest brother was cocky and brazen but lacked the finesse, style and quick-mindedness which characterised his sibling and their father before them. Yes, Lionel had been a bastard but one hell of a classy bastard.

"What? No witty comeback? The cat ate your tongue, Lex?"

"I would think before speaking if I were you, Lucas," said Lex tersely.

"Do you believe the old man´s left you everything?"

"I´m not a fool. I don´t go about building castles in the air. You, on the contrary... you should learn never to spit at the hand that will probably feed you."

"Is this because of your generous offer to keep me away from dad all these years? " he asked with sarcasm.

"I seem to remember you were only too willing to cash the cheques I sent you every month. Even asked for a raise not so long ago," answered Lex coldly.

"Well, it was high time I got my hands on a portion of what was mine by right," hissed Lucas.

"Gentlemen, why don´t you pull off the boxing gloves? Dr Sutton´s here," Chloe butted in.

"By the way," said Lucas, cocking an eyebrow," though it´s been nice seeing you again, Chloe, you haven´t told me what you´re here for."

Lex shot a glance at the blond, interested in knowing what her answer would be. He knew his father well enough never to be surprised at what he could throw his way and, this time, Chloe Sullivan seemed to be part of his plan and that made his gut clench.

"I´m afraid I´m as clueless as you are," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"You aren´t here on assignment, then?" asked Lex suavely, knowing what the answer was.

"Was that what you were thinking, Lex? I´m surprised you haven´t kicked me out of the premises if you suspected I was here to get an exclusive," she responded, holding his gaze unflinchingly. She knew that he knew she wasn´t there as a reporter and, what´s more, his speaking so openly in front of Lucas told her he was willing to run the risk of trusting her discretion. "I´m not here in that capacity, but you already knew that- you´re always well-informed. Lionel´s is my story- although I should say I didn´t ask for it."

"Mr Luthor," said Sutton approaching the group." Miss Sullivan, Mr Luthor," he added, addressing the youngest pair.

"Dr Sutton, shall we?" responded Lex, showing him the way to the conference room.

"She´s coming with us?" frowned Lucas.

"Haven´t you been listening, Lucas?" smirked Lex." She´s here for the reading."

"Why don´t we take a seat, gentlemen? Miss?" said the lawyer, sensing the tension in the room.

"Sure. Let´s see what the old man´s got to say from the grave," sighed Rachel Dunleavy´s son, sprawled on a swivel chair.

"Would you rather I waited outside?" asked Chloe to the attorney, stealing a glance at Lex, who was sitting across from her.

"The late Mr Luthor left precise written instructions, madam. You are to stay for the reading of the whole testament."

"Can we start now? I haven´t got all day," asked the youngest Luthor.

"Eager to resume your seat at the gambling-tables, Lucas? If they kick you out of the Chinese joints, there´s always Vegas and Reno," said Lex smugly.

" There´s no need for you to pretend bro´. You also want to find out what this chick´s doing here and what her cut´ll be."

"I don´t think..." started Chloe.

"Well, " the attorney cleared his throat nervously." As you already know," he added, addressing the bald billionaire," your father´s servants have already got their share. His chauffeur... "

Chloe listened to Sutton´s words and observed both siblings closely as the lawyer recited the list of assets that had been bequeathed to their father´s most faithful servants. She tried to gauge their reaction to the news- Lucas looked slightly pissed, clearly bored with the fate of material things he deemed too insignificant to really matter. Lex... well, Lex was wearing his trademark poker-face so he didn´t give too much away, except an occasional nod, as if he agreed with the destiny of part of his inheritance.

"Now... here´s the part which interests us today. Your father expressed his wish that his art collection, cars and valuables be auctioned and the proceeds be destined to a foundation he instituted in your late brother´s name. The Julian Luthor Foundation will devote its resources to fund research on SIDS and to grant psychological counsel to families whose children have been victims of this syndrome."

Lex felt a sudden ache in his chest; Lionel had stuck with the lie till his very death. Julian hadn´t died in his crib victim of SIDS, it had been his own mother who had smothered him with a pillow, and Lionel had thought Lex guilty of the deed for over twelve years. Julian had been snatched away from Lex´s side by a mother who loved them both too much to see them tear themselves to pieces for Lionel´s love. Now, at least, a portion of their dad´s legacy would be used for something Julian could be proud of. Lex doubted the real reason behind keeping up the lie was because Lionel loved Lillian so deeply he didn´t want her memory to be tarnished. His parents´ marriage hadn´t been like the Kents´- there had been too many secrets, cruelty and back-stabbing.

As Sutton´s voice droned on Lex remembered one night from his childhood when he had sneaked into his parents´ master bedroom and saw Lillian curled up on the bed crying silent tears as she held an old photo in her hands. Lionel had started coming late from the office, sometimes he would even stay the night in Metropolis. Lex had been young and still he had had a pretty good idea of what was going on, and he hated his dad more than ever for treating Lillian the way he did. There had been many women in his father´s life after Julian´s death- Rachel Dunleavy was one of them and the result of that affair was sitting across the table. Lex couldn´t help but pity Lucas´ mum because she had been as much a victim of his dad´s as Lillian had.

Chloe saw something flicker in Lex´s eyes and then vanish. She had known of baby Julian through Clark and Lana and was aware of how much his death had affected Lex. However, she had seen with her own eyes that tragedy had been just one of the many painful moments in his life and that it wasn´t a medical condition what had caused the baby´s early death.

"... twenty percent of my shares in LuthorCorp I bequeath to Alexander Joseph Luthor. These shares, together with the twenty percent he received from his mother´s estate on his eighteenth birthday make him one of the corporation´s major shareholders."

"It appears there´ll be a new rooster in the hen house, Lex," smirked Lucas, straightening up on the chair.

"Sir," said the attorney tensely, addressing the youngest Luthor," your father´s made provisions for you to get a monthly allowance of ten thousand dollars."

" Ten grand? Not bad... although I´ll spend more than half of it on my new wardrobe if I have to attend board meetings and sign cheques at my desk in daddy dearest´s old office," said Lucas smugly, eying Lex with scorn." I´ll need some female company to go to those boring soirées and charity events. What do you say, Chloe?"

Chloe felt Lex´s scorching eyes on her and cursed Lucas Luthor for making the whole procedure even more unbearable.

"I´m afraid I´m not cut out to be a society girl. As you very well know there are people who don´t know when to hold their tongue," she said, stressing the last sentence and seeing the ghost of a smile on Lex´s lips."Besides I can´t stand hypocrisy and those disgusting air kisses."

"Would that be a `no´?" asked Lucas, cocking an eyebrow. "Have you considered the whole package?"

"I have and, believe me, you are not that irresistible, Lucas."

"Please, Dr Sutton," said Lex seeing the older man´s discomfiture."Disregard my brother´s appalling manners. Let´s finish with this so he can go back to his card game."

"Yes, sir," he responded, adjusting his glasses." The two Lear Jets as well as the helicopter I´ve purchased for corporative use... "

Chloe tried to keep track of what the lawyer was saying but got suddenly distracted when she felt a hand sliding up her thigh and moving to a very specific destination.

"... the remaining forty percent of the shares I leave to..."

Lex saw Chloe suddenly tense and noticed her cheeks were rather flushed. He then looked at Lucas, who seemed to be hanging on every word that was coming out of the lawyer´s mouth, and frowned.

Chloe was ready to explode and the second Lucas´ hand was about to touch her where no man had ever been allowed, Sutton announced the name of the other major shareholder and everything went up in flames. Chloe sprang to her feet and gave Lucas a hard punch that ended with him sprawled on the floor with a bloody nose. Meanwhile, Lex laid back on his swivel chair and looked at her with an odd expression on his face as his world, once again, crumbled down. All his efforts had been in vain.

"What!" she hissed, glaring at Lex. "He deserved it. Luthor or not, he´s one filthy pig. You´d better go back to your call girls," she told Lucas, who was wiping the blood off his nose.

"You´re no better than them," spat Lucas. "I don´t want my father´s leftovers, thank you very much."

"What!" she choked.

"That´s enough!" roared Lex, springing to his feet."Get out! Collect your cheque and don´t come back," he hissed, planting both hands on the table to refrain from crossing the room and finishing what Chloe had started.

"Do you think I´m going to leave things as they are?" asked Lucas, pressing a finger under his nose to stop the bleeding.

"Don´t try my patience, Lucas. If you´re thinking of contesting dad´s will, when my lawyers are done with you you won´t even have the damn monthly cheque."

"My, I thought things between you two were freezing cold. Now I see I was wrong. I´m starting to think maybe they shouldn´t have let you free. Did you attempt to murder your wife to marry dad´s mistress and snatch the whole inheritance?" he laughed, boring his eyes into Lex.

"What in heaven´s name is he talking about?" shouted Chloe, looking at Lex with knitted eyebrows.

"Oh, come on, Chloe! Don´t play coy, now," said Lucas, looking at her in disgust." Sleeping with the CEO got you the forty percent you needed to get my bro´s interest."

"Leave the premises before I call security, Lucas," Lex warned him with a murderous look in his eyes while he clenched his fists tightly not to pummel his half-brother´s face in front of Chloe and Sutton.

Chloe shifted her eyes from Lex to the attorney with a puzzled look on her face.

"That you´re a bastard is definitely unquestionable. As to your allegations I´ve been whoring for your father... and forty percent... Forty percent of what?" she fumed, fixing Lucas with a hard stare.

"Don´t think for a minute I´ll let you keep my forty percent, Sullivan," he stormed out of the room, slamming the mahogany door behind him.

A deadly silence fell on the room and Chloe felt her legs wobble.

"Well... my job´s done here," said Dr Sutton, putting away the papers in an expensive leather briefcase.

"I trust you won´t divulge anything that´s transpired in this room," responded a sobered Lex in a voice laced with threat.

"You have my word, sir," he promised with a nod.

"I´ll have my lawyers call you to sign all the necessary papers. Miss Sullivan, I assume, will make similar arrangements," added the young tycoon, observing Chloe´s dumbfounded figure sitting on a chair across from him.

"Certainly, sir. Miss, good morning," he greeted them on his way out.

"Are you all right?" asked Lex once they were alone as he uncapped two bottles of Tŷ Nant.

"All right?" she laughed hysterically."You´re kidding, right?" she wiped a couple of treacherous tears which had slipped away."I was starting to get my life together, trying to get over everything I´ve been put through," she said bitterly." I was minding my own business... trying not to wake up the dormant dragon," she added as Lex looked at her with eyes that said he knew she´d been investigating Lionel again. "God! I don´t need this shit," she exclaimed, leaving the chair and walking to the panoramic windows to avoid having to hold Lex´s gaze. _`What did you do, old bastard? First you sent me that envelope and now this? Why me? What were you trying to do? Why couldn´t you just let things be? Was this another of your sick twisted games to hurt us both or were you trying to make amends?´_

"My father always had the oddest sense of humour," said Lex´s voice a couple of metres away from her as he surveyed the city landscape with his hands deep in the pockets of his expensive black trousers.

"Hilarious! I can see you´re barely managing not to burst into laughter. Come on, Lex! I can´t believe you´ll accept this situation with so much equanimity," she replied, wondering if his reaction was connected to what he´d shown her when she revived him. Was it because of what Lionel had told him in prison he wasn´t saying anything now?

"I suspected something like this was going to happen the moment I saw Sutton approach you at church, and my suspicions were confirmed when he told me dad had asked for you to be present today. Nothing my father could ever do would surprise me, Chloe."

"Well, let me tell you... he did surprise me. You haven´t believed what Lucas..."

"Of course not!" Lex cut her off exasperatedly.

"Good. I know we don´t trust each other yet, but..."

"It hurts, doesn´t it? Having people pass judgement on you because of circumstantial evidence- or because of things which appear to be evidence of foul play, I mean. You think I killed him right?"

"Did you?" she asked, boring her green eyes into him and praying he´d say `no´, hoping he hadn´t turned his back on the new opportunity she´d given him in that hospital room.

"I didn´t. Do you believe me?" he responded gravely.

"I know about Grant and Lana´s pregnancy, Lex. The bastard deserved everything he had coming."

"Do you believe me, Chloe?" he insisted.

She looked into his steely blue-grey eyes and saw in them the little red-haired boy she had left standing in that dark corridor.

"I believe you, Lex."

"You dared challenge dad four years ago and almost got yourself killed. Why did you do it again?"

"Your father contacted me four months ago and asked me ... he ordered me to stop digging up about you and your past. His request only egged me on. There had to be something really big he didn´t want me to discover," she told the billionaire.

"And did you? He made you heiress to one of America´s largest fortunes, Chloe," trying to gauge how much she had managed to dig up.

"Are you trying to imply he decided to include me in his will in a twisted attempt to shut me up?"

"I´ve never doubted your investigative skills, Chloe; that´s why I fired you from the paper. You were too curious for your own good. You´ve always been an intelligent and resourceful woman. For that reason I came to you at The Planet when Lana disappeared. I knew she´d have never been able to orchestrate such a classy disappearing act without someone´s aid."

"Lex..."

" Don´t bother denying it."

"At that time I thought it was for the best. Her life with you was a living hell... I didn´t know what I know now about the baby... I just wanted... . Clark...," she tried to explain.

"Clark? Clark has never been able to see what´s actually under his nose, and you of all people should know it," exploded the billionaire.

"You´re being unfair, Lex. Clark´s loved Lana all his life."

"We both know his fixation with Lana is a blind infatuation with an ideal he´s put on a pedestal and that only exists in his mind. Unlike us, he´s never been able to see beyond the surface of things. He´s wasted too many years of his young life pining for a dream when he had the real thing in front of him all the time," responded Lex passionately, boring his eyes into her." I hope one day you´ll come across a man who´ll see you for the wonderful woman you are."

"And what makes you think I haven´t?" asked Chloe, tilting up her chin in defiance so as to cover up the embarrassment she was sure must be showing on her face.

"Even with Lana out of the picture Clark´ll never see the light. And Olsen? You won´t have me believe that boy has what it takes to challenge your sharp intellect and to make you feel like a woman. And the other alternative- the one Lucas suggested- is just ludicrous."

"What have you got up your sleeve, Lex? A few months ago you were the bereaved widower demanding to know Lana´s whereabouts, and now you´re virtually making a pass at me!"

"Wipe that look off your face, Chloe. I´m not trying to seduce you, and don´t believe for a minute I´ve said what I´ve said to you because of the forty percent my dad´s left you. It´s high time you stopped going for the safe choices- it´s not who you are," he stated, walking towards the mini bar.

"What do you want from me, Lex?" she asked, observing him closely for any sign that might give her a hint as to what was going through his head.

"I´ve been given not a second but a fourth chance in my life when I´m not sure I even deserved one, and I hate seeing someone with so much potential as you waste hers."

"Who are you to talk about my life or how I live it, Lex?"

"I´m your brother. That´s who I am, Chloe," answered Lex on a monotone as he stood with his eyes fixed on Metropolis´ skyline.


	7. Confessions

**A/N:** Here´s the update, a few hours earlier than usual, by popular demand. Enjoy!

**CHAPTER 7:** Confessions

Chloe´s heart was hammering intensely in her chest and she felt the tears start to prick behind her eyelids when his words sank in. She had been expecting the moment for two months, but she hadn´t been able to broach the subject without revealing her role in Lex´s miraculous recovery.

"You´re wrong, Lex. How long have you believed this to be true?"

"It´s true, Chloe; I´ve got proof."

"What proof?" she asked breathless.

"I´ve known it for four years now. That´s why... that´s why I had to sever all ties between us. Chloe... when I think how close we´ve been to... " he swallowed the big lump in his throat." It was for the best. I know you´re entitled to everything he´s left you, but... I thought then that I was doing you a favour by keeping you away from him and the filth that comes with being a Luthor."

"Lex," she whispered. Wishing she could have told him the truth sooner, she placed a hand on his shoulder and felt him tremble.

_`Don´t leave me.´ `I´ll always be there.´_

The young billionaire closed his eyes and saw himself again as a kid standing in a dark corridor, looking towards a blinding light, begging not to be left alone.

"It was you, wasn´t it? Your power... it was dormant..." he mumbled, turning around to meet her glassy green eyes.

"You´ve got it all wrong, Lex, " she started, shaking her head.

"You hated me and yet you saved me. Why?"

"I´m not a Luthor, Lex. Your dad was fond of playing with people. He was one manipulative bastard. He lied to you."

"I´ve got DNA proof, Chloe; you can´t contest that," he told her still unable to process it had been her to bring him back from the dead.

"DNA proof? Provided by whom? Your father?"

"When I went to see him in prison one last time, and he told me nonchalantly he understood my fascination... `with young Miss Sullivan´ because we shared more than common hatred for him, that in fact we shared the same genes, I thought he was simply taunting me but, you know me, I had to know for sure. So... I got the vial of blood you had donated to the Red Cross bank at school that year and had it analysed. The results were conclusive."

"That´s impossible, Lex," she shook her head."If you had doubts about what Lionel had told you, you should have asked me for a sample then. Why go all cloak and dagger?"

"And tell you what? That you might be sending your own father to the chair? You didn´t need that on your conscience."

"Your father must have known you would try to corroborate his sayings, Lex. He must have had somebody switch the samples."

"That wasn´t the only test I´ve had run on your blood or your spinal fluid, Chloe. Unlike the rest of the 33.1 inmates you were taken there for a completely different purpose. I had started doubting the results of the first test and needed further proof."

"That´s the reason you had me abducted that evening outside the bowling alley? Not because you thought I was a freak?" she frowned.

"I didn´t know it then. I´m so sorry, Chloe. I´m so sorry to have had to put you through all that, but I just needed to know everything there was to know about you in case something... in case anything happened to you."

"Like what?"

"You were all the family I had left, Chloe. I couldn´t lose you, too. I had to know how to protect you. I couldn´t present my case to you, you would have never listened to me. You´d have thought God knows what... I´m sorry I had to involve Moira, too; but I needed her to corroborate my father´s allegations about their extramarital affair."

"Lex, I´ve been visiting my mum these last two months at the clinic. We´ve talked a lot... I... Remember I told you I had to talk to her? When I... touched you in that hospital room... " she said, acknowledging it had been her to save him- there was no use lying to him now, " I saw... many things. It was as if I were inside you, reliving things of your past."

"It was your voice I heard, wasn´t it?"

"I suppose it was, Lex. I honestly don´t know how it works. It was the second time I used it and it was completely different from my previous experience. I´m not your sister, Lex; when my essence left your body... when I woke up in my room... I was bombarded by images and overwhelmed by so many questions. I knew then why you had put a distance between us after that summer. The answer wasn´t the one I was expecting, if anything, it was even more disturbing- that´s why I had to talk with my mum. You need to see her, Lex; it´ll be faster than another DNA test. "

"What makes you think she won´t lie to me, Chloe?" he told her, not wanting to give in to hope, the hope that maybe his father had tried to come clean the last time they had been face to face.

"I´m aware you distrust everyone after what Lionel put you through, but my mother would never lie to me. Trust me, Lex. Besides, there´s something more I´ve got to show you," she said with the ghost of a smile.

**SUNRISE CLINIC**

Moira Sullivan was sitting in the sunlit recreational room of the clinic when Chloe and Lex arrived. She raised her gaze from the novel she was reading and smiled at her daughter before letting her eyes rest on the tall lean man next to her.

"Mum, how are you doing today?" asked the blonde reporter, embracing the older woman and kissing her on the cheek.

"Counting the minutes till the time arrived for you to cross that door," she answered with a raspy voice."I see you´ve brought him along. Does he know, then?"

"He figured it out," Chloe said sheepishly."But that isn´t why he´s here. You see, Lex seems to believe we´re related."

"Why would he believe such a thing?" the woman asked, boring her deep green eyes into the young billionaire.

"Is it true that you and my father had an affair?"

"I wouldn´t call it an affair. It didn´t even fall into the category of a one-night stand. There was nothing of consensual about what happened between Lionel and me. I was young and madly in love with my husband. I was desperate, and your father could smell fear and despair at a distance. He needed to retaliate and found in me the perfect prey. You see, I had been recently told it was only a matter of time before I got permanently committed. Gabe knew nothing about my condition, and I wasn´t going to tell him. I was happy; we had so many plans. We were going to raise a family. I just needed more time... and Lionel offered it to me. He told me LuthorCorp scientists were working on an experimental treatment that could cure or retard the development of my insanity and... stupid me, I believed him. All I had to do was... " she cut herself off.

"I get the picture, Mrs Sullivan," Lex told her, disgusted at the way his father had manipulated her.

"Chloe is mine and Gabe´s, Lex. When I found out I was pregnant my first thought was I was being punished for my indiscretion. I, like you, thought the baby was Lionel´s. It was only when the doctor told me I was over a month pregnant that I breathed relieved. I suspected what you were trying to find out with all those questions you asked me at 33.1. I could have told you the truth but, after what you´d put all those other people through, I decided to keep my mouth shut. I´d never been able to get my revenge on Luthor Sr, so I told myself taking it out on you would have to be my consolation."

"Even if it meant hurting Chloe in the process?"

"Children should never pay for the sins of their parents. She didn´t know, and she´d have never known you thought she was a Luthor. You see, I was sure that having you think it was true was the best way to secure her well-being. You had had plenty of opportunities to have her killed or exiled where she´d not interfere with your business. However, you kept her close, had her on your payroll and let her live in a property that was yours- that told me there was more to your interest in my daughter than to add her to your collection at 33.1. You´ve harboured feelings for Chloe all these years, haven´t you, Lex?"

"Mum," Chloe tried to interrupt her, grabbing one of her hands.

"If you have, there´s no reason to feel guilty. If my Chloe has run the risk of losing her life to save yours," she added, caressing he daughter´s cheek," there must be something worth-saving in you."

Lex shifted his gaze towards Chloe and noticed she was trying hard to feign being concentrated on some imaginary lint on her suede skirt. What had Moira meant with her words concerning Chloe´s intervention? That she knew she could have died and yet chose to resuscitate him?

"Mum, we don´t want to wear you out," smiled Chloe as she got up from the sofa and leant forward to press a kiss on Moira´s forehead.

"Thanks for being honest with me, Mrs Sullivan. I know how hard it must have been to tell me what you did, " Lex said to Chloe´s mum with gratitude.

"Lionel was a sick man, Lex. I can´t imagine what it must have been like for you to endure that kind of parenting. You can still make amends for your past and prove that the apple can fall far from the tree. You know, I met your mother once; she was a beautiful person," she smiled, covering one of his hands with hers.

"Thank you, Mrs Sullivan," he responded, making a supreme effort to maintain his cool. "Chloe, I´ll wait for you in the lobby."

"OK," she told him with glassy eyes as he left the recreational room to escape from a situation which had turned too emotional to handle without making a fool of himself in front of both women.

"Are you going to tell him, Chloe?" Moira asked her daughter once Lex was out of earshot.

"He deserves to know. I think it´ll lift a heavy burden from his shoulders."

"The bastard did something good after all," Moira said ironically.

"Knowing him I´m not sure what his original intention was. Why did he choose me to entrust the family secrets with? He was more than aware of our open enmity," Chloe cocked an eyebrow.

"Lionel Luthor was anything but blind, Chloe. He knew what he was doing when he lied to his son four years ago. And I´m sure he knew what he was doing now."

Chloe joined a perfectly composed Lex in the lobby of the clinic, and they both walked in silence to the silver Porsche which was parked a few metres away from the entrance. It was a pregnant silence, charged with suppressed emotions, bursting with the energy of feelings which had been bottled up by one of the parties and denied by the other for years.

"Is it true what your mother said? That you could have died when you saved me?" asked Lex, breaking the silence as he gripped tightly the leather-covered steering-wheel of the sleek sports car.

"She was exaggerating, Lex," she laughed nervously.

"Was she?" he said in a lower voice, turning around to fix her with his intense blue-grey eyes.

"I just passed out; that´s all," she murmured.

"Passed out? And why weren´t you in the room when I woke up?" he frowned, seeing her fidget in the seat.

"Lex..." she began explaining.

"If you´re going to lie to me, save it, Chloe. I´m not asking you to betray his secret. Your look tells me Clark´s somehow involved in it, and it´s OK. I don´t need to know. I promised this time it´d be different and, hard as it is, I´m trying to live up to that promise. Just tell me, did you risk losing your life when you saved me in that hospital room?"

"I told you this time it was different. When I used my powers before, I slept for a few hours in a row, and that was all. I didn´t think..." she gulped," I didn´t think it´d be as intense as it was. I... fell into a deep slumber for eighteen hours when I touched you," she finished, looking at Lex from under her eyelashes.

"Eighteen hours is a long time to be `asleep´, Chloe. What if you hadn´t woken up?"

"But I did."

"After everything I´ve put you through, you chose to enter that room and use your powers on me without knowing what the outcome could be for you. Why?"

"You´d saved me at least twice that I knew of- at the safe house and after Lana bit me at the Sorority party."

"Was it gratitude, then?"

"Are you looking for a confession, Lex? I don´t know what it was, OK? We´ve never been exactly indifferent to each other. My feelings are as confused as yours are right now. Can we talk about this some other time? I´ve got something else to show you."

"I suppose I can wait. It´s the least I can do after what you´ve done for me."

"I don´t expect you to pay me for saving your sorry ass, Luthor. You didn´t need to get rid of The Planet, by the way. I know why you did it, but I don´t want any grand gestures. Just try not to blow it this time."

"I´ll do my best to accommodate you, Sullivan," he smirked, turning the ignition. "All right. Where to?"

"My apartment. You know where it is, don´t you?" she cocked an eyebrow, seeing him smile smugly out of the corner of her eye.

"Your apartment it is," he responded, putting on his designer sunglasses and driving the car out of the parking space.

**CHLOE´S APARTMENT**

Chloe had made Lex stop in front of a liquor store to purchase a bottle of first-class whisky- in her fridge there were only cola beverages and a couple of beers Lois had bought the last time they had a pizza together, and the blonde was sure he would need something stronger to process what she´d show him. As a matter of fact, she too would need the Dutch courage necessary to reveal Lionel hadn´t been the only one who´d lied to him.

"You should have let me pay for that, Chloe," the billionaire told her when they had taken off their coats and she came back from the kitchen with two tumblers.

"Let me enjoy the prerogatives that come with being an heiress, at least, for a little longer, Lex," she responded, pouring the amber liquid into their glasses.

"Have you got an attorney you can trust?" asked Lex, taking the tumbler she offered him. "There´ll be lots of documents to look over and sign."

"I´m not keeping the forty percent, Lex," she said, sipping the vintage beverage and lowering herself onto the armchair opposite Lex.

"Chloe..." he began, setting down the tumbler on one of the coasters she had placed on the coffee table between them.

"Lex, I haven´t brought you to my apartment to talk about the inheritance. There´s something you´ve got to see," she cut him off, feeling her mouth suddenly dry.

"So you said. I´m really intrigued, I´ve got to admit. There´s very little that can ruffle the Chloe Sullivan I know, and you´re definitely nervous," he replied calmly, eying the way she rubbed her hands against her suede skirt. "There was no lint on it at the clinic, and there´s nothing wrong with it now, Chloe. I won´t bite your head off."

"OK," she sighed, getting up from the armchair and unlocking the top drawer of her desk to get an envelope. "The morning after Lionel and you... were attacked at his office, I got a handwritten letter at The Planet," she began to explain, stretching out an arm to grab her tumbler and take a quick gulp of the drink. "I suppose it must have been sent the afternoon before your meeting at LuthorCorp Plaza. I told you earlier today that your father had talked to me a few months ago. Now I know he was afraid I´d discover he´d been behind Grant´s death and Lana´s fake pregnancy. His whole plans with Martha Kent and his play-acting as Clark´s surrogate father would have come to an end and every carefully-constructed plan to gain their trust would have crumbled down. Needless to say I kept investigating; he knew I was obsessed with writing exposés on LuthorCorp and that I was intent on bringing you down," she said, fidgeting with the envelope that felt like a ticking bomb in her hands. "Perhaps he suspected I had discovered the truth, so he thought of using this as a bargaining chip. Maybe he thought I wouldn´t do anything against him if he gave me something to humiliate you or hurt you in public."

"What´s in that envelope, Chloe?" he asked, leaning forward.

"My first thought when I got it was: `Luthor´s sent me an explosive letter.´ In a way it was... is. It concerns you and your mum," she gulped, raising her deep green eyes to meet the intense gaze of his blue-grey orbs.

"My mother?" he murmured in a controlled voice as the conversation with Lillian´s ghost at the hospital sprang to mind.

"Take it," she said quietly, handing it over to him. "I´ll leave you alone to read it in private while I plug in the coffee maker," she added, getting up from the armchair.

"Stay," he told her, grabbing her hand to detain her. "Please," he added in a begging voice she´d never heard him use.

"Are you sure?"

"When I was in hospital waiting for my discharge papers... I saw her... my mum," he explained emotionally." I talked with her. She said many things I couldn´t make head or tail of until recently. She told me that you already knew the reason, that I had shown you... I didn´t know she was talking about our distancing or you or your having seen the reason for it while being `inside´ of me. She said... there was a reason for my survival and that I´d have to wait until it was safe... that all the answers I´d been waiting for would find me when the time was right. I think this is it, isn´t it?" he asked Chloe tightly. "What could it be so horrible to make him treat me the way he did? What could she have done to make her ask for my forgiveness at the hospital?"

"I´ve burnt your father´s letter," she responded, remembering the rage that had overcome her when seeing the contents of the missive and the hurt she had experienced while reading the bastard´s confession of how he had come between her and Lex all those years ago. She had already seen it with her own eyes while being in Lex´s mind but, somehow, seeing the words scribbled on paper by the own perpetrator made the pain even worse. "I found this envelope in the safe deposit box I opened with the key that Lionel sent me to The Planet. I´ve done some digging and I have to say everything looks legit," she stated as he started to take the papers out of the manila envelope with LuthorCorp´s logo.

Lex threw the envelope onto the coffee table without looking at the documents, got up from the sofa and started to massage the tense muscles of his neck. "After I got shot in Detroit..." he began, pinching his nose," I started having these dreams... nightmares, actually. I thought all the stress in my life was impacting on my resting hours and making me see things but... the same dream has kept repeating itself. Now I realise it isn´t just a dream but a repressed memory. I see my parents arguing... he is accusing her of having betrayed him... she wants to divorce him and take me away with her... he refuses and then, they start talking about me. He threatens her with hurting me if she doesn´t give him what he wants... he says they´ve discussed it more than once lately... and then, he asks her where she plans to go. He actually refers to someone... "

"Do you remember anything else?" asked Chloe when he turned quiet.

"He mentioned a betrayal of hers again when I confronted him for the last time. He told me... mum knew why he would never..." he responded in a barely controlled voice, remembering Chloe was aware of what exactly he´d always wanted from Lionel because he himself had told her the truth in his study at the mansion after she broke into one of LuthorCorp´s facilities and got infected with the Veritas serum.

"He should have never done what he did to you, Lex. You weren´t to blame," she said quietly, coming closer to him and placing a hand on his shoulder as she resisted the impulse to wrap her arms around his waist from behind and hold him tight.

This was the same man who had done all that experimenting at 33.1, that had taken several morally questionable decisions she knew of and others she suspected or had no idea of and yet, she could no longer deny she´d never stopped loving him. It had been precisely the depth of those feelings what had made the breach between them so painful and her animosity towards him so incensed. Lex was still the man whose dark half had tried to kill her, but he was also the young man who had protected her against a monster and the first adult male to see her as a sensual being.

Being inside Lex´s mind had changed everything because she was no longer capable of dissociating the sensitive, loving and hurt boy she´d come face to face with in those dark lonesome corridors from the man that was standing before her now. During their estrangement he had tried hard to project an image of heartless ruthlessness and she had made herself believe whatever she´d seen worth-saving in him had been an aberration caused by her infatuation with the sophisticated handsome billionaire. Imagining Lex as soulless and unscrupulous had been so much easier than accepting the truth- that she might never be able to put him behind her and that, maybe, they had all given up on him far too soon.

"Lex, " she repeated, hoping he´d not close up now and deny her the possibility of being there for him just as he´d once been there for her when she needed someone to lean on.

"Is there a name in those papers, Chloe?" he asked her, feeling the warmth of her hand seep through the expensive dress shirt and start spreading all over his skin, filtering through his pores, enveloping him in the same way it had when she´d touched him in that hospital room. He couldn´t remember when it was the last time he´d let someone get close and actually touch him- he´d tried, really tried when he was with Lana, but there had always been a part of him he kept to himself, a part that remained untouchable.

Lex could feel her soothing presence behind him, all around him, and experienced the almost unbearable urge to turn around and hug her, have her arms hold him to her body and let himself go- cry like the little hurt boy he´d always known he was deep inside; but he didn´t.

"Iaian Seosamh Murray Grierson," Chloe read the name in her notes and saw a fleeting look of recognition in his stormy blue-grey eyes when he turned around to face her. "Lex? Where are you going?" she asked as he marched purposefully out of the room, grabbed the jacket and the overcoat he´d hung on a peg in the hall and opened the front door to leave. "Lex!" she exclaimed when he stepped out into the corridor and rushed to the lift without uttering a word. "Talk to me. Do you know him?" she asked breathless, standing in front of him as he tried to press the button to summon the elevator.


	8. Telltale Memories

**CHAPTER 8:** Telltale Memories

LEX´S PENTHOUSE

The drive from the middle-class neighbourhood where Chloe had settled down when she moved back to the big city had been fast and completely silent. Hardly had Chloe climbed into the silver Porsche and buckled up than they were speeding across Metropolis in the direction of the expensively pretentious LuthorCorp-owned building where Lex resided whenever he wasn´t doing business abroad.

Although she had never set foot in the apartment, the large living-room was exactly like she had pictured it in her mind- cold, sterile and impersonal. There seemed to be nothing of Lex-the man- in it, nothing that could give the impression the penthouse was anything other than a convenient pied-à-terre. However, that impression changed when the billionaire took a key out of his pocket and unlocked a polished mahogany door that led into what must be his private den, his refuge to get away from the life he had tried to leave behind when he moved to rural Kansas. Everything was made of the best-quality wood and crafted by the most exquisite artisans- the walls were covered by floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and, in front of the panoramic window which overlooked the city and the green plains in the distance, there was a beautiful solid oak desk. Chloe loved the smell of timber, wax and old books which mingled with his own heady masculine cologne. The study was an unexpected surprise and the view from the window, breathtaking.

"A few months ago a package arrived at the mansion, " said Lex briskly as he sat on his swivel chair and unlocked the top drawer of his desk. "The new owners of my grandparents´ farm in Montana were doing some recycling and they came across a few belongings of my mum´s in the attic. They thought I might like to have them, so they politely sent them to me with a very courteous letter. Inside the package I found an old volume of Scottish poetry and a photo album recording all our holidays together on the farm," he added in a voice charged with emotion. "It´s all I´ve got left of my mother apart from the watch I always wear around my wrist. He burnt everything that could remind him of her when we got back from the funeral," he continued, leafing through the album until he got to the page he was looking for and stopped. "There was one photo which captured my attention because it was older and because it was obvious it hadn´t been taken in Montana. She looked happy and relaxed- the way she used to only when he was away on business and we had all the time to ourselves; but I wasn´t in the picture. Is this the man... Iaian Grierson? " he asked Chloe, handing her the photo.

"He looks younger, but yes I´d say it´s the same man," she responded, resting her eyes on the top of Lex´s head while he perused the old book in his hands.

"He must have given her this as a gift- it´s dedicated," he murmured before reaching a bookmarked poem. "She seemed to have a special fondness for this passage:

_A slender crosslet formed with care_

_A cubit´s length in measure due_

_The shafts and limbs were roads of yew_

_Whose parents in Inch Cailliach wave_

_Their shadows o´er Clan Alpine´s grave,_

_And, answering Lomond´s breezes deep,_

_Soothe many a chieftain´s endless sleep. "_

"Sir Walter Scott´s `The Lady of the Lake´, " responded Chloe with a smile.

"You know your British literature, Chloe," he said with the ghost of a smile." My mother loved Scotland, that´s why he had the castle brought stone by stone all the way from the shores of Loch Lomond- the lake mentioned by Scott. It was his wedding gift- a very pretentious one. You know, my mother said... when I talked to her at the hospital... that I just had to be patient, that all the answers would come to me when the time was right. The Clan of MacAlpin- the first King of Scotland- was the clan of the MacGregors. Grierson is but a sept of this clan."

"This photo was taken in January 1979, according to what´s printed on the back. It doesn´t say where, but there´s a lake in the background. Weren´t you curious to know more when you got the album?"

"I was too busy with my crumbling marriage and trying to find out who was penetrating LuthorCorp compounds around the world to worry about an old picture."

"When did your mother marry Lionel?"

"They married on February 1st 1979 after she came back from a two-month tour of the Scottish lakes," he replied. "I was born a little under nine months later- which leaves a very narrow margin. He must have suspected something and in true Luthor-fashion dug up until he found out the truth."

"Why did she marry Lionel if she was in love with another man... if she was carrying someone else´s child?"

_I should have protected you and told him the truth before it was too late. Things would have been so different if I had... if he had, at least, known._

"My guess is she must have found out she was pregnant soon before the wedding," responded Lex, remembering Lillian´s words at the hospital and realising she hadn´t been talking about Lionel but his real dad. Although she had discovered she was expecting before marrying Lionel, she hadn´t told her lover about the baby- a fact that she never forgave herself- and Lex thought he knew why. "My grandmother hated the Luthors. I remember overhearing arguments between her and my grandfather... she wanted mum to leave Lionel and bring me to live with them in Montana. Grandma said it´d been a mistake, that they should have found another way... I wasn´t old enough to understand the ups and downs of national and international economy then. It had been a marriage of convenience- Lionel had the money to help them out, and my mum had the right breeding and connections; plus, he was smitten by her looks. My mother loved her parents dearly and she wasn´t a strong person- she wasn´t determined enough to oppose either them or the mighty Lionel Luthor."

"Do you resent her for what she did now that you know the truth?"

"Part of me wants to, but I´ve spent too much of my life living in the past. I don´t know if I´ll ever be able to fully forgive her but... "

"Is it at least a consolation to know he wasn´t your father?"

"It certainly lifts a heavy burden from my shoulders. It explains a lot- why he was so obsessed with Julian, why he cloned him and he went out of his way to show me I could never be enough in his eyes. He gave my mother the chance to fix things by giving him a son. Julian had been his true first-born and heir, but when she smothered the baby he was stuck with the bastard son of a wife he loved to distraction but who didn´t love him back. Not even Lucas was good enough- he was a Luthor but he had the misfortune of not sharing Lillian´s blood. If you ever feel like writing a soap opera, Chloe, I´ll give you the rights. You´ll have to change the names to protect the innocent, though," he laughed ironically.

"Lex, " she interrupted him with concern in her voice, "I´m sorry."

"Why? Why should you feel sorry for being the bearer of the greatest news I´ve ever got in my life?"

"I wish I could tell you more about him," she gulped, giving the photo back to him," but I came against a brick wall."

"I know enough and I know where to start," he told her calmly. "Have you got your papers in order?"

"Excuse me?" frowned Chloe.

"Your passport?" he cocked an eyebrow.

"I used it once to visit Canada with Lois and my uncle during the hunting season. Why?"

"Johnson, get the jet ready. We´ll meet you at the airfield in forty-five minutes," he ordered his pilot on the mobile." Will that give you enough time to pack and grab your passport, Miss Sullivan?"

"What about Lucas and the estate attorneys?"

"They´ll be waiting here till we come back. Don´t worry, Chloe. I know for a fact Lucas is busy in Atlanta betting his monthly cheque. They have orders to draw him another for ten grand if he asks for it. After all, it´s his money, isn´t it?"

"I suppose so," she shrugged her shoulders.

"We´re leaving for Scotland, then," he finished, pressing a button under his desk, which revealed a hidden safe behind one of the bookshelves." Pack light. You´ll get a new wardrobe, courtesy of LuthorCorp," he smirked, taking a couple of wads.

"Lex, about that..." began Chloe.

"We´ll talk about it later, Chloe."


	9. Partners Again

**CHAPTER 9:** Partners Again

THE WATERS EDGE COTTAGE- LOCH LOMOND- SCOTLAND

When Chloe and Lex arrived in Edinburgh a rented Land Rover was already waiting for them on the tarmac. On the plane Lex had told her they weren´t staying in the capital city but heading straight to Loch Lomond, which was around sixty miles away. Iaian Grierson seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth and the only clues that they had were an old photo, Sir Walter Scott´s poem and a few scattered memories which Lex had repressed, and all of them led to the biggest lake in the U.K.

Chloe had left Metropolis in a rush but had made a call to Lois before getting on the jet to tell her she´d be away for a couple of days- she had lied about the destination, of course. The General´s daughter had pressured her for details and the blonde had just told her she needed some time away to finish a story she was working on. Mrs Kahn was a different matter altogether; Chloe was still working hard to show she deserved a second chance and couldn´t run the risk of losing her dream by asking for a leave of absence without providing the editor with a very good excuse. Lex had offered getting her a health certificate to present at the newspaper´s HR´s office, but she´d preferred no to leave any paper trails that might lead back to him.

Although the young woman was leaving the country an heiress to a large fortune, and she was doing it with none other than Lex Luthor, she didn´t feel like sharing the secret with anyone. Chloe told The Planet´s editor she was following the Luthor story and that she´d get something ready for the following week. She had no intention of writing anything about her recent findings or whatever they might discover in Scotland. Miss Kahn´s main concern and the public´s main interest should be Luthorcorp´s shady business and not the heir´s personal life. There´d be a story to write just not that story.

The hotel was a charming 1820´s lochside cottage surrounded by the romantic ambiance and natural beauty provided by its location. Chloe felt a tightening in her chest when they stepped out of the vehicle and she took in the breathtaking landscape. She had never thought of herself as the dreamy romantic-type but- now that she found herself amidst so much beauty in the company of the man she had almost died for and to whom she had almost given her virginity when she was barely seventeen- she discovered she wasn´t so different from the rest of her kind. Stealing a glance at Lex, who was opening the boot to retrieve their luggage, she wondered what he was thinking and told herself she should better stick to what they had come for before she made a foolish mistake.

The cottage was run by a charming middle-aged couple who had travelled around the world and collected antiques and curios that gave the indoors a unique and interesting atmosphere. The smell of the lounge reminded Chloe of Lex´s study in Metropolis´ penthouse, and she couldn´t resist the impulse to close her eyes and take a deep breath to fill her lungs with the clean and wood-perfumed air. The look that she saw in Lex´s blue-grey eyes when her eyelids fluttered open made her heartbeat quicken, and only the owner´s interruption saved her from babbling something stupid to overcome the uncharacteristic butterflies in her stomach. It was preposterous really- two months ago she was barely making ends meet and she couldn´t think of anything that would make her happier than bringing Lex Luthor down. Whereas now, here she was, a rich woman helping Lex Luthor discover his own roots and feeling things for him she had thought dead and buried.

"I´m sorry, Mr Luthor. There´s been an unforgivable mistake," said the middle-aged woman apologetically. "It´s the hunting season and we´ve had more bookings than usual. My daughter had taken a reservation before your assistant called, and she forgot to write it down. We´ve got only a double room available," she explained, rubbing her hands nervously.

"Do you think there might be accommodation elsewhere in Balloch?" asked Lex calmly.

"I´m afraid not. I sent a couple with a child to the Cameron House Hotel and they were given the last room available."

"Lex, we aren´t so far from Glasgow. Maybe we could... " Chloe began, taking pity on the young woman who had forgotten to book them a room.

"I wouldn´t recommend leaving now, madam. There´s a heavy storm brewing and, by the looks of it, it´ll hit soon," the owner of the hotel advised them.

"Chloe, it´d be just for the night. We´ll find some other place tomorrow morning. What d´ you say?"

"The Garden Room´s a double, but we could provide you with a cot and clean linen," the lady told the couple when she saw the fair-haired girl heistate.

"We´ll take it," responded Lex when Chloe nodded her approval at last. Hell, he had survived sleeping in the open for almost three months while stranded on that damn island! He could survive spending a night in the same room as Chloe, right?

"OK. I´ll need your passports then and, while we deal with the check-in with the gentleman, Sherry can take your luggage and show the lady the room," the Briton said with a smile.

"Take your time, Chloe. I´ll wait here while you freshen up," Lex told her when she picked up her bag.

Three-quarters of an hour later a recently-showered and changed Chloe stepped in the Guest Lounge to find Lex relaxing in an armchair and sipping a pre-dinner complimentary sherry. It never ceased to amaze her how composed and unruffled he always looked- to the casual observer he wasn´t a man who had just arrived from a transatlantic trip after spending four hellish days and discovering he´d never been who he thought he was. Nobody else but her and Clark knew the billionaire had been in a coma and brought back to life by her magic touch either. Lex was anything but a regular guy.

"Better?" asked Lex with a small smile when she sat down on the sofa near his seat.

"I feel human again," she responded in a similar fashion.

"Chloe," he murmured as he leant forward.

"I left you a clean bath towel, a bar of soap and a new toothbrush at the foot of the bed," she swallowed the lump in her throat. "Go ahead, Lex. Don´t take long, though, if you want to taste the local cuisine because by the time you get to the dining-room I might have eaten your serving and mine. I´m starving!" she laughed, trying to put off whatever discussion he had on his mind.

"OK," he smirked, taking the hint." At least save me a piece of Butterscotch and Chocolate Tart."

"Butterscotch and Chocolate Tart?" she cocked an eyebrow.

"I had a look at the menu while you were away. I thought that´d be the kind of dessert Chloe Sullivan would order. Was I right?"

"Does it come with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on the side?" she asked, her mouth already watering.

"It can be as decadent as you want," he said seductively, and Chloe thanked Scotland´s cold weather for the green cardigan that concealed the sudden goose pimples on her skin.

The hotel´s chef lived up to Lex´s expectations. The Escalopes of Salmon with an Avocado and Tomato Compote in a Basil Sauce were superb; the ingredients were first-quality and the fish was freshly-caught. Chloe seemed to enjoy his choice and launched on a hilarious account of a fishing trip she had shared with Lois and Uncle Sam for her fifteenth birthday. Lex listened to her attentively and found himself laughing a few times.

"You should do that more often," she said after the waitress removed their empty plates.

"What´s that?" he responded, taking the bottle of Cuvée Dom Perignon and filling both their flutes again.

"Laugh," she replied, dropping her eyes to see him pour more champagne in her glass. "I think I´ve had enough for tonight," she added, putting a hand on top of the flute.

"There´s still that sinful Butterscotch and Chocolate Tart. The beverage won´t go to your head, I promise; you´ve got a full stomach."

"Are you suggesting I´ve eaten like a pig?" quipped the reporter.

"There´s nothing of a pig in you, Miss Sullivan; I can assure you," he said smugly.

"I think I´ll have to run a few laps around the lake in the rain to burn all the calories I´ve ingested tonight," she laughed, rubbing her stomach and wondering if her cheeks hadn´t turned pink like a stupid schoolgirl´s.

Lex thought there were other more pleasurable ways he could think of to achieve just the same goal, but reminded himself that wasn´t the reason he´d asked her to come along. It was hard to forget they weren´t two newly-weds on their honeymoon when he was sharing a candle-lit dinner with the woman he´d loved for seven years and thought could never be his.

"Are you going to finish that?" she asked, cleaning her fork and eying the piece of tart he´d left on his plate.

"Greedy, aren´t we?" he smirked, pushing the dish towards her.

"This is Heaven, Lex, " she moaned, savouring the dessert in her mouth.

"It certainly seems that way," he responded with a velvety voice as her hazel-green eyes met his." We should ask for two cups of strong black coffee, don´t you think?" he added, feeling the sexual tension between them.

Chloe had dreaded the moment the time came for them to go to their room, even though Lex had been nothing but a gentleman in their rapport. True, their banter had been interspersed with sexual innuendo like the one they used to share over coffee at The Beanery and later at The Talon before Lionel Luthor had poisoned their budding romance with his lies and Lex had hurt her with his scathing remarks and his obsession to know Clark´s secret. However, she knew he´d never pressure her into doing anything she didn´t feel prepared for. Lex Luthor might be a predator and know how to charm a woman with his charisma and his intelligence, but he wasn´t the kind to force his attentions on an unwilling partner. All this she knew and, still, she was trembling like a leaf.


	10. Mysterious Ways

**A/N: **We´re reaching the last part of this fic. Here´s the penultimate instalment. Enjoy!

**CHAPTER 10:** Mysterious Ways

LOCH LOMOND- SCOTLAND

The display of the digital alarm clock read half past eleven when the door opened and Lex stepped into the room. Chloe had slipped under the covers about thirty minutes before and hadn´t been able to close an eye, even though she was emotionally exhausted. The storm which had been brewing was now in full swing and the rain could be heard falling steadily and occasionally beating against the window panes when a sudden gust of wind blew from the east.

Lex changed into a pair of light-blue pyjama bottoms and a white t-shirt and, finishing his ablutions, walked quietly to the cot they had set for him. Covering himself with the linen and the goose feather quilt, he fixed his eyes on the ceiling and concentrated on the reflection of the water dripping down the panes. The only sound that reached his ears was that of the steady rain, which should have been lulling enough to put him to sleep if Chloe hadn´t been in the same room and his mind hadn´t been busy with thoughts of his natural father and the decision that had to be made concerning the phone call Lex had got before coming to their room.

An hour and a half later Chloe was still awake and felt the sudden call of Mother Nature. Cursing her bladder privately, she got out of bed, put on her slippers and, stealing a glance at Lex, went to the bathroom. It was really stupid; she had a comfortable king-sized bed all to herself, of which she occupied just a quarter, and he was lying on a cot in an undignified position to accommodate his long limbs. The jerk would have a stiff neck in the morning, and she would have to suffer his stoic poker-face across the breakfast table knowing he was dying for a masseuse. Damn it! He deserved sleeping in that cot- they should have given him a nail mattress to pay for all her sleepless nights and all the tears she had shed because of him.

"Lex?" she called him as she reached her side of the bed. "I know you aren´t asleep. You can stop pretending with your damn breathing techniques," she said ironically, grabbing her bedclothes to get under the sheets once again. "There´s enough space in this bed to house four people."

"I don´t think that´d be a wise idea right now, Chloe," he answered tersely, trying to control the effect seeing her in nightclothes had had on his body.

"We´re adults, Lex. We can handle this," she told him with her head on the pillow as their eyes met across the room.

"Chloe, there´s no way I can sleep in that bed and not touch you. We´re walking on fragile ground, and I can´t bear the thought of losing you again- even as a friend, if that´s what you want- because of rushing things."

"You´ll blame me for your damn stiff neck in the morning, Luthor."

"But you won´t hate me across the breakfast table. I can survive some knotted muscles, Chloe."

"Why do you have to be such a martyr, Lex?"

"I thought you´d be relieved. Did you think for a minute I hadn´t noticed how tense you´ve been from the moment we got out of that car?"

"You aren´t Clark; of course I knew you´d noticed!" she exclaimed.

"Is the fact I´m not Clark a good or a bad thing?" he cocked an eyebrow.

"Now you´re being deliberately obtuse," she punched her pillow.

"I got a phone call after you left the lounge," he told her, changing his position to help the circulation of his right leg, which was getting numb." My people traced the assailant," he added calmly.

Although Chloe was surprised by the sudden veer in the conversation, she welcomed the fact he was being open with her.

"Have they caught him?" she asked sobered.

"It´s not a him but a her, and she´s confessed to the deed," he responded gravely as he pinched his nose.

"Do you know her? Was robbery the motive or...?"

"Yes, I know her and I believe you do, too. She came to Smallville once, kidnapped me and almost murdered me when my... when Lionel refused to give in to her demands. Rachel Dunleavy. The past always comes back to haunt you. I told him once he should never hurt what he couldn´t kill."

"Lucas´ mum? But wasn´t she institutionalised?" frowned Chloe.

"She had been transferred to a low-security asylum. Her psychiatrist had recommended the transfer on account of her improved psychological state. She broke out a week ago, must have been planning her revenge for years."

"Are you turning her in?"

"I should; she murdered someone in cold blood."

"But will you?"

"If only she had waited a couple of months. You know, I thought the bastard was playing with my feelings again when I went to see him that evening and he told me he had little time left. He wasn´t lying, the cancer had come again and wasn´t treatable. It had metastised and would have killed him within two months. Lucas would have come into the inheritance without her rushing things or burdening her soul with taking a life- even that of someone like Lionel Luthor."

"Does Lucas know?" she gulped.

"No, and there´s no need for him to know. It´s enough he was deprived of being with her when he was a child."

"What will you do, then? If your people managed to find out the truth, won´t the police come to the same conclusion?"

"Lionel made many enemies in the MPD. I don´t think there´s a member in the force who´d move a finger to find his murderer. I´m afraid it´ll stay a cold case indefinitely. Rachel Dunleavy´s an unstable woman who took desperate measures out of love. I can´t blame her for loving her child, Chloe. It´s Lionel I blame for destroying so many lives. Lucas´ mum doesn´t belong in a prison. I´ll have her transferred to a centre where they can give her the supervision and treatment she needs. "

"Has Lucas ever met her?"

"He knows she´s alive. He´s never visited her, but I hope he´ll change his mind before it´s too late."

"I can sympathise with him. It took me a long time to pluck up the courage to visit my mother when I found out she hadn´t walked out on dad and me," she said with a catch in her voice.

"You were lucky, Chloe. Gabe was a fantastic dad and your mum loves you a lot," he responded emotionally.

"I wished I had had her in my life while growing up."

"She´s had the chance to see who you´ve become and you´ve given her reason to be proud," he told Chloe, boring his eyes into her and wishing he could say the same about Lillian. "For a long time it was hard to remember the sound of her voice or what her hair smelled like," he added, speaking out his thoughts about his own mother.

"And now you do?" she murmured.

"I feel closer to her than I´ve done in years," he confessed." It´s late, Chloe. You should catch some sleep. It´s going to be a long day."

"Are you sure you´re all right there?" she asked him again when she saw him turn on his back.

"I´ll survive. Goodnight, Chloe," he responded warmly.

"Goodnight, Lex."

It was nine o´clock when Chloe woke up to find Lex gone. Unlike her, he´d always been a morning person despite his keeping late hours: it was another thing to begrudge him. Chloe could barely function without her eight hours of sleep and a double dose of caffeine before starting her day.

By the time she arrived at the dining-room to grab some breakfast Lex had finished his and was working on his laptop.

"Have you started your research without me?" she frowned, sitting across from him and taking a scone he´d left on his plate.

"_Oh, ye´ll tak´ the high road, and I´ll tak´_

_The low road._

_And I´ll be in Scotland afore ye_

_But me and my true love will never meet_

_Again_

_On the bonnie, bonnie banks o´ Loch Lomond,"_ he responded with a far distant look.

"Another poem?" she cocked an eyebrow.

"An early nineteenth century folk song- The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond. It was one of the first pieces my mum taught me to play on the piano."

"All your memories lead back to this place."

"There´s no trace of him in the church records at Balloch. There are hundreds of Griersons and other septs belonging to the clan, but no Iain Seosamh."

"How did you learn this?"

"I´ve been to the village. You were sound asleep; I thought it´d be a pity to rouse you so early."

"You should have woken me up," she chided him. "What are your plans for today?"

"We can drive to Balmaha, enjoy the scenery and take the ferry to Inchcailloh. The MacGregor´s burial ground is on that island. It´d be a good idea to search some records there as well."

The boat trip to the Isle of the Old Woman, immortalised by Sir Scott in Lillian´s favourite poem, was one of the highlights of their stay. They saw white deer at close range and visited Rob Roy´s tomb before heading to the local parish to dig into their baptism and death records- they found Iain´s name amongst the babies christened in 1954.

Although the minister in charge of the archives was very nice and communicative, he had been transferred to the area ten years ago and had never met Lex´s natural father. Still, he provided them with an interesting piece of knowledge which Chloe knew had touched Lex in a special way- Seosamh was Gaelic for Joseph, Alexander´s own middle name.

"He cannot have vanished off the face of the earth," Chloe shook her head, sitting in one of the loungers of the cottage´s garden now that the air was warmer.

"Maybe the family moved," he responded with his back to her as he watched the swans and the ducks swam by.

"He isn´t an old man. There must be somebody in the village who has met him or, at least, heard of him," she continued, disappointed by the fact that they hadn´t been able to discover much when- with their combined expertise and resources- drawing a family tree or digging up information on a person´s past shouldn´t have been so hard.

"I´ve got to take this," Lex interrupted her musings after reading the caller ID on his mobile phone. "Yes, talk to me," he said as he strolled away.

Chloe sighed and picked up the old poetry volume he´d left on the garden table. "Give us another hint, Lillian. I´ve got to leave your son soon and I´d like to know he´s found what he´s come here looking for," she murmured before she almost jumped out of her skin when her own mobile rang.

"Damn it, Lois!" she cursed through her teeth; it was her sixth call that day and Chloe knew not picking it up would only make things worse. "Sullivan, speaking," she said, answering the call.

"What the hell´s going on, Chloe?" boomed Lois´ voice and Chloe removed the apparatus from her ear.

"Good morning to you, too, Lo´," she laughed.

"Where are you? It´s bedlam here. Your face is in every major paper and news show. Kahn´s driving me nuts demanding to know where you are, who you are with and what you´re doing. She´s royally pissed, says you were sitting on the biggest story since Watergate and, what´s worse, that you were part of the story. I don´t give a damn about our editor, but how dared you lie to your own flesh and blood, cuz´?"

"Are you done?"

"The old bastard´s made you his heiress, for God´s sake! I have Smallville breathing down my neck, accusing me of knowing all the while where you are and having me clean my bank accounts to pay his bail."

"Bail? Clark´s been arrested?"

"For destroying LuthorCorp property and resisting arrest. He barged into Lex´s office, shouted at his assistant demanding to see Luthor and, when she told him her boss wasn´t in town, he went ballistic."

"He should learn not to play boy scout when nobody´s asked him to," responded Chloe grimly.

"I can´t blame him. I´m as worried about you as he is. Are those ducks?" frowned Lois when she heard a distinctive quack.

"Lois, I´ll be back tomorrow. There are a few things that need to be done before we... " she responded, closing her eyes when the wrong pronoun slipped through her lips.

"You aren´t on the beach. There are no ducks in the sea," Lois cut her off." And you said `we´... Don´t tell me he´s there, too. Chloe Elizabeth Sullivan, what the hell´s cue ball doing with you and the ducks?"

"Lois, I´m fine. I´m here of my own accord but, for God´s sake don´t open your big mouth in front of Clark. And keep Kahn off my back for one more day."

"Easy for you to say. What´s going on between you and Lex? You´ve been acting weird since he came to The Talon two months ago. Has this got anything to do with his gift- the one you turned down? Why have you become the Luthors´ depositary of the family heirlooms all of a sudden?"

"I can´t figure out why Lionel would make me an heiress."

"Ah! Does that mean you do know why Uncle Fester´s started showering you with the Crown Jewels, though?"

"Lo´, my battery´s low. I´ll talk to you when I come back. Bye!"

"No, no, no! Don´t you dare hang u… ! » shouted General Lane´s daughter as Chloe disconnected the call and turned off the mobile.

The blonde reporter lay back and closed her eyes in an attempt to regain the peacefulness she had found in the relaxing surroundings.

"May I?" said a feminine voice with a marked Scottish accent.

"Sure," smiled Chloe when she opened her eyes and recognised the middle-aged owner.

"Oh, I see you like Scottish poetry!" exclaimed the lady, picking up the leather-bound volume as she sat on the lounger next to Chloe´s.

"Well, to tell you the truth... I´m more into non-fiction but being here helps understand what moved people like Scott to write poems."

"This is a very old edition," responded the woman, inhaling the odour of the yellowish pages.

"It belonged to Lex´s mum. It was a gift."

"´S RIOGHAL MO DHREAM. `Royal is my Race´- the MacGregor´s motto," said the older woman, reading the bookplate.

Chloe looked at the woman and smiled on hearing the words; there couldn´t be a more appropriate motto for Lillian´s son.

"Is this Mr Luthor´s mother?" asked the Scottish lady, showing Chloe a photograph that Lex must have slipped between the pages of the book.

"Yes, that was his mum," assented Gabe´s daughter.

"Was?" echoed the woman with a touch of sadness in her voice.

"Yes, she passed away when he was twelve," answered Chloe with a puzzled look on her face.

"I didn´t know," murmured the inn´s owner."I couldn´t help but overhear you this morning. You´ve come to Loch Lomond to look into Mr Luthor´s past, haven´t you? " she asked Chloe, getting up from the lounger. "There are many ghosts and secrets on these lands, Miss Sullivan. And God works in mysterious ways. Tell your friend I´ve got something to show him. There´s no need to look any further, child," she finished, squeezing one of Chloe´s hands gently.

**tbc**

Author´s note:"The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond" is the real title of the folk song that Lex played on the piano in "Quest". SV´s screenwriters named it "Birks of St. Kilda" .


	11. Finding the Answers

**A/N:** Here´s the final instalment. Enjoy it!

I´ve been working on another fic but, it isn´t nearly finished and I don´t know if I´ll have the time to work on it until my winter holidays (late July). Who knows? Maybe I´ll complete it or even start penning a different one. Actually, it´ll be up to my muse and my hectic teaching schedule.

**CHAPTER 11:** Finding the Answers

The owners of The Waters Edge Cottage had met Lillian in 1979 when Iain had brought her to visit his hometown and introduce her to his childhood friends. Phoebe and Glen had been the ones to stand by the eldest of the Griersons when his parents had disowned him after he turned his back on the clan and refused to marry the bride of their choice.

Lillian had confided in Phoebe during her stay, telling her she was promised in marriage to a rich and powerful man in America and that, although she wasn´t in love with him, her family´s economic future was at stake. She had fallen in love with Iain while studying in Glasgow before her parents were forced to cut down her allowance and ask her to come back to America. Lillian and Iaian kept their romance alive by post and she ended up using all her savings to return to Loch Lomond on Christmas 1978 and stayed there for two months.

She had kept her impending nuptials with Lionel a secret, hoping the Griersons would learn to accept her and that she could remain in Scotland and marry the man she loved. Her dreams went up in smoke when the Griersons threatened to disown Iain, and she decided to sacrifice what they had to prevent that from happening.

Three months later, Iain turned his back on the clan and flew to America in search of Lillian, but it was too late- she had already got married and was expecting her first child.

Grierson came back to Scotland, where the MacAllister lent him a lodge that had been in Phoebe´s family for three generations, and he took up a job as a tutor with one of the land-owning families who had known him since he was a young boy. He became a hermit; his social life was almost non-existent, except for an occasional meal at the Cottage with his old friends, and he spent most of his free time locked up in his study, in the company of his old books and a good bottle of Scottish whisky.

"He was walking along the A82 when a drunk teenager lost control of his vehicle and knocked him over," Phoebe explained to Lex and Chloe when they arrived at the old lodge. "We were expecting him for dinner. He had talked with Glen on the phone, told him he had great news to share with us. We couldn´t remember ever hearing him so happy, except for the two months Lillian had stayed here. It wasn´t until a month after his funeral that I found the letter while cleaning the lodge. The morning of the accident he had received post from America- the address on the envelope was a P., but I recognised her handwriting. That evening he was going to celebrate the news with us- that he had a son, and that the boy was turning twelve that month."

THE GARDEN ROOM- 7 p.m.

Lex had been eerily quiet since they drove back from the MacAllisters´ lodge. Chloe´s heart was breaking for him- it seemed God was constantly mocking him and giving him hope just to take it away the next moment. Seeing him so quiet, cold and collected sent shivers down Chloe´s spine; it was too much like the calm before a storm and she feared for him and what this might do to his resolve to stay away from the path which had almost destroyed him.

"Lex," she murmured, getting closer to him and noticing the coiled tension in the muscles of his neck and his back.

He turned even more rigid when he herd her voice so near him.

"Lex," she insisted, resting her hand on the small of his back and feeling him start to tremble, "what can I do?"

Lex bit his lower lip and shut his eyes tightly as tears welled up in them. He had found his father only to lose him before ever getting the chance to meet him. Lex was tired of always losing the most important people around him, of investing himself emotionally to end up wounded time and time again. He felt her voice fighting to get through the wall he had erected in that garden behind the lodge when he had seen his father´s name carved in stone. She was touching him with the same hands which had brought him back from the dead and the wall started to shake.

Chloe´s sixth sense told her he was trying hard to hang onto his engrained stoicism, and she cursed Lionel Luthor for depriving him of the natural outlet for hurt.

"I´m here, Lex. I promised I´d be here," she uttered, wrapping his waist from behind and resting her face on his back.

The warmth that had enveloped him in that hospital room began to filter through his pores with determined resolve, and Lex felt his clenched fists leave his pockets to cover her hands and hang onto her like an anchor. He sensed the steady beat of her heart resonate in his chest and, gradually, his own slowed down to imitate hers. And, then, he perceived the dampness on the back of his shirt- she was crying for him, she was crying for what he´d found and lost that day; and, just as his heart had followed her lead, his tears finally started to fall.

Chloe felt the change in Lex when he decided give up his reticence to be touched and comforted, and she breathed relieved. If he let his defences down just a little to let her in, it meant there was still hope for little Alexander to rise victorious.

"Yesterday I promised you we´d look for another hotel," he said in a low but steady voice a while later. "We can drive to Glasgow now that the storm front has cleared."

"You´re exhausted, Lex," she responded, loosening the grip on him as he began to pull himself together. "I suppose I could drive, but it´s already close to dinner time, and I´m not really fond of travelling in the dark, particularly when I´m not familiar with the road."

"Has Lois phoned you?" he asked, slipping his hands in the pockets of his trousers.

"Yes. I guess you already know the news is out," she replied with a small smile.

"I´m going to kill that estate attorney," he said tersely.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later, Lex. It´s too big a story to be kept under wraps."

"I´m sorry you´ve got involved in Luthor affairs again."

"I´ve been involved ever since I made that stupid deal with Lionel when I was in high school. He never knew how to let go. Or maybe I´m wrong, because if you think of it... our lives got intertwined long before that... when my mother made another reckless bargain with the old bastard. I still don´t get it.... why me? Why leave me forty percent of the corporation?"

"The evening I went to see him to his office... he said it was too late to undo the past, but he also told me something before exhaling for the last time I didn´t understand then: Paved the way. I didn´t set much store by those words, considering who they were coming from."

"Do you think leaving me those shares was a twisted attempt to give us a chance to start rebuilding what he had tried so hard to destroy four years ago?"

"Maybe. Or, maybe, he thought you´d make a hell of a CEO," he smirked. "You´re a hard nut to crack, Chloe Sullivan."

"I don´t want the money, Lex, or the power that comes with it. I´ve got more than I can handle with this," she gulped, looking at the palms of her hands.

"Don´t look at yourself as a freak, Chloe; you´re so much more than that. And the shares are for you to do with them as you please. I´m not planning to keep mine," he told her, rubbing his neck.

"What?" she asked dumbfounded.

"I´ll leave LuthorCorp the same way I arrived at the corporation, with the twenty percent my mum bequeathed me. I just want what I built with my own effort and the support of people like your father," he added, boring his intense blue-grey eyes into her," people who had faith in me and who jeopardised their future and that of their children to help me despite my name."

"What will you do with the other twenty percent?"

"I´ve already talked with my lawyers. I´m transferring the shares to Lucas. It´s only fair; he´s a Luthor. He can gamble the money away for all I care."

"I was thinking along similar lines... leaving him the shares, I mean."

"Even though he´s a pig?" he cocked an eyebrow.

"A filthy pig," she corrected him," but he got a raw deal. Let´s say I´ll do it for a mother and a child that were cruelly separated."

"You should sell part of the stock and keep the money for you. Give it to Queen, if you want."

"Queen? You´re kidding, right? Since when do you approve of Luthor money going to Queen´s bank account."

"It might be used to fund research on your mother´s illness now that I´m thinking about closing the pharmaceutical branch of LexCorp."

"Why? It´d be a great loss to waste everything your scientists have been working on."

"It´s too dangerous, Chloe. You´ve seen what happened in the past. I get too greedy, too soon. I just don´t know when to stop when I see something I want," he said passionately, and Chloe felt his scorching gaze burn her.

They had circumvented the issue that was hanging in the air to deal with more practical questions, namely how they were going to handle the business of Lionel´s inheritance- and now that they were settled, the tension between them was sizzling again. He´d given her a way out when he offered to take her to Glasgow, and she´d turned it down. If they stayed that night, there was a strong chance they would end up in each other´s arms. Although Chloe was scared of how intense the feelings they´d tried to repress were, she was done running away. A few days ago he had told her going for the safe choices wasn´t who she was, and he had been right. Unlike Lillian, she wouldn´t commit the mistake of listening to others and wasting the opportunity to find out if they were meant to be. She had already sacrificed too much for others, and it was high time she started thinking about herself.

Chloe looked across the room, locked her deep green eyes with his and heard Alexander´s childish voice say `Don´t leave me´ and she uttered: "I´ll stay, Lex."

"Are you sure this is what you want, Chloe? I´m not a charity case."

"Who said anything about charity?" she smiled conspiratorially.

"What´s going through that mind of yours?" he cocked an eyebrow.

"I´m imagining what you´d look like in a kilt. I´d love to see that before leaving for Kansas."

"Are we talking about wearing the kilt in the traditional way?"

"What? Is there another way?" she quipped.

"And you said you did no longer want to bring me down?" he responded.

"Never believe what a reporter says when she finds herself between the devil and the deep blue sea," she beamed.

"Well, I suppose it´s open to negotiation," he sighed.

"What is?" she frowned.

"The kilt. What did you think I was talking about?"

"I don´t know. You´ve always had secret agendas."

"This time it´s out in the open. Are you willing to run the risk?"

"When I brought you back I said I´d be there. My word´s good; I´ve never backed down."

"No, you haven´t," he responded with the ghost of a smile.

This time he´d paid heed and Lillian had been right. The answers had found him, and the blinding light which had surrounded him and the warmth that had enveloped his heart in that hospital bed were there when he finally woke up. Being blind for a while had been more than worth it. Having Chloe back in his life was the reason for his survival and the answer his heart had been waiting for so long.

**THE END**

A/N: I hope the ending hasn´t disappointed you. I wanted to finish this fic with a good amount of hope without forcing things between the two characters. They might have a future as a couple; that´s why Chloe is willing to stay and try to find it out- although I´m sure it´ll take them both more than one night in a secluded cottage to heal wounds and overcome their conflictive past. I´ll leave it to you to decide what´ ll happen to them.


End file.
